


Old Traditions

by ellerean



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-11 00:19:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 53,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2045796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellerean/pseuds/ellerean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin Matsuoka, fastest merman in the North Pacific Reef. He's witty, charming, and a little too curious for his own good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Breach](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1269982) by [SleepingTsundere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepingTsundere/pseuds/SleepingTsundere). 



> "I'm not going to start any new fics for a while," she says, as she begins to write yet another fic.
> 
> I just really wanted merman Rin.
> 
> I intended for this to be a oneshot. *nervous laugh*

Rin waited until the last possible moment to appear. From out in the stadium, the audience had already started its clapping and chanting. They hollered for each swimmer taking the field, murmuring when the reigning champion hadn’t yet approached his lane. It was tradition, and one that the lesser swimmers resented—as if the victory of the previous year hadn’t been enough, like the victor was riding the last moments of fame.

_Stupid_ , Rin thought, peering out from behind the coral. _I’ll be this year’s champion, too._

Perhaps he’d waited too long. The crowd was fidgeting now, his competitors floating idly in their lanes. Rin grinned as he poked his head out farther, waiting for the first merperson to spot him.

To his delight, it was the announcer. “Is that our reigning champion I see?”

A wave of applause surged through the crowd as Rin bolted to his lane, not bothering to conserve his energy. He’d never needed to bother with energy conservation—he could swim faster, harder, longer than the rest. Today’s race was a mere formality. He’d be wearing the gold bands of victory again in the coming year.

The announcer waited until the audience had died down again. “Let the one-hundred fifty-first North Pacific Reef races begin!”

Rin stretched with the other merpeople, snapping the end of his tail as he got into position. He was in the last possible lane, per tradition, but that was all right. He was closest to the crowd; closest to his mother and sister, who sat front row and center. Gou had fashioned imitation gold armbands to mirror those of her brother’s, as children were oft to do as they dreamed of one day entering the races themselves. His mother waved wildly, which he pretended not to notice—he had to wait for the conch that would signal the start—but he flashed a radiant smile, one he knew his family wouldn’t miss.

They were deep beneath the waters but the midday sun shone bright, sending streams of sunlight over the lanes and across the swimmer’s faces.

First blow of the shell, and the competitors hovered closer to the start line.

Second blow, and they were off.

Rin always had a good start, even in practice. He had a strong kick; Sousuke claimed Rin’s tail was smoother than the others, helping with the drag that slowed the rest down. Rin still wore the victor’s bands high on his arms, as if the entire Pacific didn’t know he was reigning champion.

“I’ll get you this time,” Sousuke had said, the day before the race.

“Nah, see?” Rin held an arm up, flashing one gold band. “This says I’m better than you.”

“Don’t get so full of yourself, Matsuoka.”

Now, they were first and second in the race—constantly swapping positions, neck and neck, a sharp turn or an updraft slowing down or speeding them up.

_I’m not losing_ , Rin though, using his arms to push him forward. Sousuke had the same secret though—they both had the same style, having raced each other countless times since their merchild days.

Sousuke kept glancing at him, but Rin refused to look over. It would distract him from the race—from winning, from his goal. He swam so fast that his vision blurred; he squinted against the oncoming rush of water, wishing there was _something_ he could put over his eyes so he could see better. But he knew exactly where to turn, and where he could speed up again. He’d swam this route countless times and could have won with his eyes closed.

But he kept them wide open. And in that moment he saw Sousuke beside him, pushing his body harder as they approached the finish line. Rin snapped his tail in one final boost, arms pressed to his sides as his fin madly whipped behind him.

He had no idea who’d finished first.

Neither did the judges—they huddled together as the crowd fell silent, as Rin and Sousuke panted at the finish line. Rin rubbed the gold band on his arm, his tail twitching as one of the judges turned around.

“Sousuke Yamazaki is the winner!”

Forfeiting the armbands was a humiliating tradition—removing them at the end of the race, fiddling with the complex lock that kept them locked tight high on his arm. Sousuke would wear them temporarily—seldom did the bands fit all merpeople the same—and Rin knew he’d get them back the moment Sousuke received his own. Rin could store them away, or display them in his home, as long as he didn’t wear them in public again.

Until he won the next year.

Sousuke’s arms were bigger and the lock wouldn’t clasp shut, so he wore them around his forearms instead. He lifted both hands high, slowly turning as he waved, and Rin extended an arm to receive his silver armband from the official.

“Better luck next time?” Sousuke said, holding a hand up to Rin.

Rin smirked as he met his high-five. “You won’t be keeping ’em for long.”

Silver wasn’t so bad, he thought. It was a nice change. Rin attended the post-race reception wearing a permanent smile, one that he had to force as the night went on. He was getting tired, and some merpeople were acknowledging his loss rather than his near-victory, but he’d simply laugh and praise the victor. The entire North Pacific Reef knew that he and Sousuke had been attached at the hip since childhood—and if anyone was going to take his first-place spot, there was no one better than his best friend.

_Next year_ , he thought, grinning at Sousuke, who couldn’t even see him through the mass of public attention. Rin quietly slipped away from the festivities, but not unnoticed—Gou met him at the outskirts of the reef.

“You okay, big brother?”

“Hmm? I’m fine.”

She looked up. The water’s surface was hardly visible from where they lived, far below where humans thought to tread. And their reef was concealed, too, even from the most daring divers. Now, the sun in the outer world was setting and their watery sky was dim, the unspoken signal that sleep was upon them. Gou sighed a little sigh, then looked back to her brother. She touched the cool silver band on his arm. “It fits you perfectly,” she said, studying the clasp on the underside of his arm.

“Yeah, I probably won’t need to get it adjusted.”

She kissed his cheek, a habit of childhood she’d never dropped, despite them growing older. “If it wasn’t you, I’m glad it was Sousuke.”

Rin smiled. “Yeah. Guess I’ll let him have the spotlight for a bit.”

She lightly smacked his arm before going back inside, needlessly reminding him not to stay out too long.

As much as the North Pacific Reef was isolated from the surface world, it was dangerous to venture out at night. Merpeople prided themselves on their vision—they could spot a school of mackerel from a mile away—but it wasn’t enough for the night predators, the ones skilled at lurking in the bottomless depths of the sea. Rin tilted his head up, trying to discern what his sister had been looking at. There was nothing of interest up there, not now. Sometimes a ship would pass, or the occasional human swimming on the surface, but he avoided them. In fact, there were few merpeople who ventured out of the reef at all. Only the best swimmers dared to explore the world outside.

Rin smiled. He and Sousuke had been swimming outside the reef for as long as he could remember. Their parents were nervous at first—especially right after Rin’s father disappeared—but it didn’t thwart their sense of adventure, their need to race in open water. Rin would bring home trinkets to his mother and sister, too, things they assumed were from the human world. Necklaces and glass bottles and pointed objects that didn’t _look_ like combs, but worked great on Gou’s long hair, anyway. Sousuke claimed humans used them to eat, but there was no way he’d know something like _that_.

A ship passed overhead, blocking out the last of the sunlight. Rin watched, waiting until it was long out of sight, until he slipped back into the reef.

 

* * *

 

“Your hair is getting too long, brother.”

“Don’t _pull_ it! And stop using that stupid thing!”

Rin slumped as his sister sat behind him, poking at his head with the so-called eating contraption. With his constant movement underwater and all his races, his hair was always a tangled mess. She ran her fingers through his hair, starting at the nape of his neck and working upward, massaging out the knots in the back.

“It is _not_ long,” he murmured, in a delayed response.

It _was_ long—longer than most teenage merboys, long enough to brush his shoulders on the rare occasion he was sitting still. But he loved the way his hair felt when he swam, flowing behind him, whipping around his face on a fast turn. Sometimes he’d tie it back with a string of seaweed, though Gou complained about that, too; she was the one who had to later pick seaweed out of his hair.

“There,” she said, smoothing down his hair. “Perfect.”

“It’s always perfect,” Rin replied, tossing his head. “Thanks, little sis.”

He heard her exasperated sigh as he darted off, his hair flowing out behind him and soon destined to be tangled again.

In fact, Rin was bored. Sousuke was still riding the wave of fame, attending luncheons and interviewing and going through all the motions that Rin had the previous year. In years past, the second and third place winners would be bombarded as well, but one victor ( _Not me_ , Rin thought to himself) complained that he wasn’t getting enough attention. So while the majority of the North Pacific Reef was fawning over their first-place winner, this year’s wearer of the silver armband was slinking out of the reef and into open water.

_I’ll go to the feast later_ , Rin thought, as he breathed in the clean water of the ocean. He _had_ to, being second, but also wanted to be there for his friend, and knew they’d sit beside each other at the victor’s table. He couldn’t resist teasing Sousuke all through dinner.

But now, he wanted to swim. He wanted to explore, to see what treasures the humans had thrown away. If he found something gold, he’d give it to Sousuke. He wouldn’t have minded something for his sister, too, to hold back her hair, and maybe he could find something for himself that was more durable than seaweed . . .

“Eh?”

The sun was bright overhead, but there was a small shadow blocking his view. Rin squinted, but it was unmistakable—that was a human on the water’s surface. Or, at least, a human’s body.

It had its back to Rin, face-up toward the sun, arms and legs spread out like it wanted to touch as much of the water as possible. Rin didn’t make a habit of going too close to the surface, but he was curious. He looked around for a boat, but didn’t see one. There was just the human body, floating like it was dead, in the middle of the ocean.

He crept closer. He felt the gentle bob of the waves on the surface, and watched the body move with them. They were too far out for the crashing waves of the shore, so it was only a gentle rocking motion. Rin had learned enough about humans in school—how they had “legs” instead of a tail, and wore “clothes” to cover their skin. This human didn’t wear a lot of clothes. He was bare from the waist up, and there was a tight fabric on his legs that only reached his knees.

“What is it?” Rin murmured, swimming closer. He watched the body for signs of life—a twitch of his hand, a wiggle of his . . . what was that? Feet. Toes. One of those; he couldn’t remember.

When he didn’t move, Rin crept closer still. He was right underneath the human’s body, under his . . . well, wherever his tail would start, if he had a tail. The fabric it wore was shiny. It looked like good fabric for swimming. It would make him fast.

Rin lightly touched the fabric with his fingertips, surprised by how smooth it was. He was surprised even more when the body twitched to life.

“Crap!” He quickly turned, accidentally hitting the body with his tail in his descent. It slowed him down a little, but not much—he whipped down, down, until the surface was far above him, until the stupid human was a pinprick in his vision. Rin curled behind a coral reef, hoping he was far enough and hidden enough that he couldn’t be seen. Distantly, he could see the human’s legs in the water. Then, the body sank down, until even his head was submersed.

_Did I kill it?_ Rin fretted, watching. But no—his head was moving, and he was looking under the water, and Rin curled tighter into himself. It was too late to move now; he couldn’t risk being seen. And though he was far away, Rin thought the human had something over its eyes. Could it see underwater? Could it see _Rin_?

He breathed a sigh of relief when the head disappeared above the surface. _I thought they couldn’t breathe underwater_ , he thought, belatedly amazed over how long the human had held its breath.

Rin rubbed his fingertips, still feeling the smooth fabric on them. It had to be some kind of uniform for swimming, he decided. But why was it only on the human’s lower half? Did it want to be a merperson?

And was it a boy, or a girl? Rin wasn’t sure how to tell.

“Whatever it was,” Rin said, turning for home, “it was pretty.”

 

He was distracted all through the celebratory feast. The more he thought about the human, the more he remembered. He’d gone home and checked his schoolbooks, and sure enough—the human was a boy. Details came to him at random. He remembered how muscular his back looked, and how his hair flowed like seaweed in the water. He remembered the swimming uniform and how it felt under his fingertips. When he’d checked his book, he learned that he’d touched the human’s “gluteus.” It had been a little soft, and kind of nice.

For a human.

But what had he been _doing_ out there? Humans were not found in the middle of the ocean without a boat. Was he lost? Was he stupid? Was he a really good swimmer?

“Oi, Rin.” Sousuke nudged his shoulder. “You okay over there? The mackerel just came by and you didn’t take any.”

“What?” Rin snapped back to attention. “Hey! Come back!”

Humans were dangerous. According to the human world, the merpeople were myths, legends. They didn’t exist. Rin had been taught since he was a merbaby: There’s nothing for you on the surface. Only humans, and they’re nothing but trouble. Everything you need is in the reef.

But Rin had learned early on, too, that the North Pacific Reef didn’t have all he needed. He found his treasures in the open water. There was more space to swim. There were other fish, other places to explore.

They weren’t _forbidden_ to leave the reef, but it was definitely looked down upon—especially alone.

Rin glanced at Sousuke, who was waving down a server for more fish. He couldn’t tell his friend that he’d touched a human. Sousuke would probably grow up to be part of the patrol, those merpeople who watched the reef and warned for approaching outsiders. The patrol didn’t have a lot to do—few humans dived down far enough to see the reef—but Sousuke was so adamantly against the human world, so determined to keep them separate. _There is nothing on the surface_ , he’d say, conveniently ignoring the origins of the treasures they’d found in the open water.

_I’ll just go by myself_ , Rin though, tearing off a piece of mackerel with his teeth. Because he already knew—he’d return to that spot, in hopes of seeing the stupid human again.

 

* * *

 

But the next day, getting off the reef was problematic. Now that Sousuke was done with his public attention, he wanted to hang out. Rin _wanted_ to spend time with his friend, but he also wanted to see the human. There was no way to do both.

“I’m just going out for a bit,” Rin said, hovering near the edge of the reef. “We’ll hang out after.”

“Huh? C’mon, Rin. I’ll come with you. I need to get off this reef.”

It took little for Rin to relent. The moment Sousuke challenged him to a race, they were off. He didn’t even have to specify the finish line—there was an inactive volcano not far from North Pacific Reef, which had felt much farther away when they were merchildren. But it was still their unspoken spot, the end to all their races. There was a tunnel through the side of the volcano as well, which led to the interior. As they approached the looming mountain they jerked their bodies upward, tails wildly flapping behind them as they swam up the side. It used to take some calculation to find the tunnel but they turned for it without thinking, at the same time, bolting side-by-side into the volcano’s interior. They broke water at the same time.

“I won,” Sousuke said, rubbing his gold armband for emphasis.

“It was a tie!”

In the volcano, they could safely breach. They swam to an outcrop and pulled up on the rock, exposing their tales to the sunlight. They couldn’t stay out long, especially in the midday sun—they would quickly dry out—but Rin loved the heat on his skin, marveling at how quickly his skin dried when he was on land.

In a previous visit, Sousuke had found some surface vegetation—a nearby bush with tiny red berries, which tasted sweet. Now, he lounged across the rock, reaching for the bush and plucking off a few. Rin grabbed a couple from his hand before he even sat up again.

In all their years, they’d never seen another merperson at the volcano. Some fish would invade the waters, which they’d scoop up in their hands to eat, but larger animals couldn’t fit through the tunnel. And, as far as they knew, other citizens of North Pacific Reef didn’t know about the hidden entrance, either.

Sousuke dropped a berry into his mouth. Rin sat beside him, soaking in the sun, flicking the water with the tip of his tail. “Hey, Sousuke . . . you ever wonder about humans?”

Sousuke raised a curious eyebrow. “What about them?”

“Anything.” Rin shrugged. “How they’re different from us. Why we don’t see them much.”

“We don’t _see_ them,” he said, “because they’re stupid creatures who can’t breathe underwater.”

“They have those _things_ ,” Rin pointed out, vaguely motioning to his face, “with the thing.” He pointed to an invisible tank on his back.

“That doesn’t count.” He leaned back for another handful of berries. “Why do you care, anyway?”

Rin looked away. He stared at the top of the volcano, at the birds crossing overhead. He didn’t get to see birds a lot. “I don’t _care_. Just wondering.”

But Sousuke didn’t look away. He held his handful of surface fruits, studying the side of Rin’s face. He rubbed the gold band on his arm. “They’re the reason your dad’s not here,” he said.

Rin grit his teeth. “I know that!”

But Rin had never believed the story. _His_ dad, getting caught by humans? His dad was a vicious hunter. He helped find the food for all of North Pacific Reef. He was a strong swimmer—a fast one—and it was completely _stupid_ to think he’d get caught up in a net. But that was the tale the reef stuck to, the one his mother remembered when she mourned her husband. Rin sighed and shook out his hair, which was now partially dry. He slid down the rock to dip his tale in the water, but kept his torso exposed to the sun.

“You ready to go?” Sousuke asked, sliding back down into the water. “It’s my turn for dinner tonight.”

“Nah,” Rin said, leaning back against the rock. “I’m gonna hang out a bit.”

He listened to Sousuke dip back underwater, and the _whoosh_ as he swam down toward the tunnel. Rin lifted his arms up, stretching his chest out toward the sun. They didn’t spend as much time at the volcano as they used to. But it was a good spot. They could breathe the open air and feel the solid ground, and still stay hidden from human eyes.

The human boy. Rin wondered if he’d be back, or if he’d just been lost. He didn’t _look_ lost, though—he didn’t thrash about, and he seemed confident just floating there. Comfortable, even. Rin waited a long moment, long enough that Sousuke should already be back at the reef, and then slipped into the ocean himself.

The tunnel felt too wide swimming alone. He was used to squeezing through its walls, laughing as Sousuke bumped his tail. He was used to ducking to prevent grazing his head on the ceiling. Now, he stretched both his arms out as he swam, propelling himself forward with just his tail as he came back out to open water.

“Human!”

Rin spotted him instantly. He could only see his bottom half, which was again covered by that soft, shiny fabric as he floated near the side of the volcano. Rin felt suddenly warm, a different warmth from when he lounged in the sun. He watched the human’s legs kick as he tread water, watched how his gluteus moved. “Cute,” he mumbled, realizing he’d never actually seen the boy’s face.

But then, he began to swim.

Rin ducked down, in case the human could see him. He had that thing over his eyes again, which Rin guessed made it easier to see underwater. He swam out away from the volcano, his arms and legs moving at the same time, and he was _really fast_.

He couldn’t help it—against his better judgment, and against the warnings of all the merpeople at North Pacific Reef, Rin bolted up toward the surface. He could quickly disappear again if needed, but he had to watch the human. He had to see how he swam. The water was clearer, warmer, brighter as he swam upward. It was a different ocean, one filled with more creatures and more treasures from the surface.

And the human.

Only Rin’s eyes poked out from the water’s surface. He stayed behind the human, just in case. He could always duck down again if he turned, hiding in one of innumerable spots beneath the surface.

The human was a _really good swimmer_. Rin wondered how he would look swimming underwater. How could he swim with those legs? How could he be so fast without a _tail_? Rin watched in wide-eyed wonder as the boy turned around and swam toward him again. Well, the human couldn’t see him yet—he kept his face in the water, turning sometimes to breathe. It seemed impossible that this boy, this _human_ , couldn’t breathe underwater. He swam like a merman, so smoothly, that Rin almost forgot he didn’t have a tail.

Until, of course, the human stopped.

Rin froze. The human hadn’t seen him yet, so he could still get away—

The boy’s eyes widened from behind their protective cover.

When the human removed the cover, pulling it down around his neck like jewelry, Rin couldn’t move from his spot.

His eyes were so blue. _So_ blue. Bluer than the water, brighter than the glass bottles Rin found near the surface. He’d never seen a blue like that, not anywhere.

_He’s pretty_ , Rin thought, as they stared at each other, piecing together all he’d seen of the boy. His legs, his eyes, his gluteus, his shoulders. _Really pretty._

“When did you get here?” the boy asked.

Rin thrashed in surprise, partially because he spoke, but mostly because he understood the boy. He flicked his tail behind him, trying to keep it hidden, hoping the water wasn’t too clear around them. “Huh?”

He looked around, swinging his arms under the water to stay afloat. “You shouldn’t be here.”

_“Me?!”_ Rin cried. “ _You’re_ swimming in the middle of the ocean!”

The boy showed no surprise. He tilted his head slightly, staring steadily at Rin. “So are you.”

“I— I’m supposed—! Never mind!”

_Shut up, Rin_. He returned the boy’s icy stare, but inside he thought his chest would explode. _He’s a really good swimmer_ , he thought.

_And really pretty._

“You swim?” the boy suddenly asked.

“Ha!” Rin smirked. He came up a little out of the water, exposing his muscular chest. He didn’t fail to notice how the boy glanced at it before meeting his eyes again. “See this?” he said, holding up the arm bearing the silver band. “Second place in the North Pacific Reef races. I’ll get first next year again, for sure. You just wait—”

“Pacific Reef?”

_Dammit!_ The human had to go talk about _swimming_ , and Rin couldn’t stop himself from yammering. What was next? _You’re pretty. I’m a merman. My mom says your people killed my dad._

“Hmph.” Rin crossed his arms. “You wouldn’t know.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I know all the races.”

“Well, not this one!”

The human shrugged. “Whatever. Want to race?”

Rin broke into a grin. “What, you think you’re faster than—”

His breath caught when the human came closer. _You can’t swim against him_ , he thought, holding tighter to his tail. Rin backed up slightly, dipping back under the water to his shoulders. “Can’t,” he said, keeping the distance between them, backing away just as quickly as the human was advancing. “Next time! I’ve gotta help my mom with . . . dinner. Yeah.”

The human boy looked unamused. “You’re scared.”

“Am not! I’d definitely beat you.”

He smiled. Not a big smile, but it was subtle, a small twitch of that tiny mouth. Rin had never felt fire—he’d only read about it at school—but he thought this is what it felt like, the really warm sensation on his skin, even those parts that were underwater. He wondered if the human’s skin was hot, too . . .

“I gotta go,” Rin said suddenly, about to dip beneath the water, but he froze again. He _couldn’t_ disappear under the water; the human would _know_. He had to swim like the boy had, using his arms without the benefit of legs. He turned around, figuring he’d just go around the volcano until he was out of sight. He spun his arms around as the human curiously watched, trying to propel forward without the use of his tail.

“I swear I’d win!” Rin cried, flicking his tail underwater, trying to using only his arms to move forward. “I’ll show you next time! When my mom doesn’t need me! Moms are so needy, huh?”

“What do you call that stroke?” the boy asked. To Rin’s astonishment, he began to follow.

“Don’t follow me!”

It was futile. Rin was trapped. Either he swim normally and use his tail—by the gods, he looked ridiculous right now—or he disappear completely underwater, never to see the pretty human again. Either way, he’d learn Rin’s true nature. He’d know he didn’t have _legs_ or _feet_ or whatever other parts humans had that merpeople didn’t. He felt even warmer when he remembered touching the boy, how soft he had felt . . .

“Did you touch my butt?”

Rin flailed, grabbing his tail so it didn’t thrash about. “Your _what_?”

_Dammit_. That must be a common human word. Even if the boy never saw the tail, never saw him sink beneath the water, he was done for. He was dead. The boy would tell his parents and Rin would be dragged ashore and probably eaten or put on display or—

“You have a tail.”

_Dammit!_ Rin hadn’t realized how firmly he clutched his tail, and his fin had poked out from under the water. He pushed it down, as if he could conceal the fact, as if he hadn’t already given all his secrets away. _If this pretty human doesn’t kill me_ , he thought, _my mother will!_

“I—” Rin swallowed around a lump of fear in his throat. “I’ve gotta—”

The boy’s eyes sparkled. _“Amazing.”_

“Huh?”

“You— you’re part fish . . .”

“I’m a _merman_ ,” Rin scoffed. “Not a fish.”

“Since you touched my butt,” he said, “can I touch your tail?”

Rin huffed. “Fine.” He lay back on the water’s surface, exposing his red, glittering tail to the sunlight. But the human didn’t move at first. He only stared, one hand outstretched, suddenly nervous. “Go on,” Rin said, his fin twitching. “I won’t attack you or anything.”

The human was right beside him now. Rin watched him set careful hands right below Rin’s belly, where the flesh turned into scales. The boy’s breath was visible in his pulsing chest as he slid a hand down his tail, careful not to damage the scales, running his hand in only one direction. He came back to the top and did it again, and Rin felt that fire-like feeling again, his skin nearly matching the color of his scales.

“Amazing,” the boy whispered, holding onto the tail.

“That’s enough,” Rin said, sinking his bottom half beneath the water again. Above the surface, their bodies looked the same. He could pretend they were the same. “You’ve got a name?”

The boy was staring at his hands, now coated with the shiny residue of Rin’s scales. He looked up. “I want to race you.”

_This_ was common territory. Rin laced his fingers behind his head, leaning back and flicking the end of his tail so it made a brief appearance at the water’s surface. The boy didn’t miss it—he watched, in case Rin did it again. “I need to know your name first.” He grinned. “I’m Rin.”

The human looked up. Such a pretty human, with eyes bluer than the water, hair blacker than the deepest depths of the ocean. And he was muscular, though not as much as Rin. But a good body, a body suited for swimming. That small smile spread on his face again. Such a pretty face. “Haru.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ([Here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/93256083868) on tumblr.)


	2. Chapter 2

_A merman._

After Haru had returned to land, he stayed there for a long time. He sat in the sand, the high tide tickling his feet as it crept up the shore. But even the water was nothing compared to the feel of those mysterious fingertips on his backside, that glittering red tail in his hands.

He stared at his palms. Regretfully, the shiny residue of the merman’s scales had long since washed off. It was like touching a fish, but not. He wasn’t slimy; his tail felt muscular beneath the scales, strong.

Haru didn’t even care that he’d lost the race.

Well, that was a partial lie— _normally_ he didn’t care when he lost races, not that it happened often. But he still felt the burning in his chest, the intense _need_ to swim. To swim faster. And not to swim alone.

“Rin,” he said, tasting the name on his lips. An unusual name, a girl’s name. Not that he could say anything against _that_ particular fact.

He didn’t want to go to school. He didn’t want to do anything but swim in the ocean, to race the merman. As he sat in English class, not understanding a word of it, he doodled in his notebook. He tried to remember Rin’s body—floating on his back, much like Haru himself had, with the sunlight reflecting off his scales. The ends of his hair had dipped into the water as he watched Haru, the silver band shining high on his arm. As Haru outlined his tail on the page, he wondered about the band—how did they make them in the ocean? Where did they get the metal? He’d have to ask Rin later.

 _Later_. He would see the merman again.

But he couldn’t go until the weekend. Between school, and homework, and swim club, Haru didn’t have a free moment until long after sunset. It wasn’t until Saturday, when he was free of obligations, that he could get back to the ocean. He ran for the shore before he’d even swallowed his last bite of breakfast.

He’d stopped frequenting the public beach years prior. Sometimes he would still go with Makoto and his siblings, or as a group with the swim club, but when he was in the ocean, he wanted to swim. Haru cut through a small outcrop of trees, climbed over a rock worn down over centuries of salty air, and then . . . he was alone. Nothing but the ocean before him and—he knew now—the beings who lived beneath it.

Haru ran, diving in the moment the water was deep enough.

He’d been challenging himself. He wanted to see how far out he could swim. The water was calmer on this shore, with fewer crashing waves. But the farther he swam out, the less the waves crashed. The less it tried to push him back toward land. Haru kicked harder to get to the calmer seas, to the inactive volcano where he’d encountered the merman.

He wondered where the North Pacific Reef _was_. Was he swimming over it right now? Was Rin down there watching him, waiting for him?

Haru swam faster.

He’d only touched the merman once, but he still remembered the feel of those scales. In the six days since he’d touched Rin, he still couldn’t describe it. He couldn’t even draw it properly. His tail had an otherworldly sheen, a feel that was both soft and firm. Delicate, but powerful.

And how did he _swim_? He used his tail a lot, but what of his arms? Did he even need them? Haru became conscious of the way his legs moved as he swam, kicking furiously, unable to imagine them knitted together. Unable to fathom swimming this fast without his arms, without his legs propelling him forward.

And Haru had been fascinated that they could understand each other. Rin claimed he’d heard rumors that merpeople and land-dwellers spoke the same language, but it didn’t seem possible. “How could you know my language?” Haru had asked, even though Rin continued to call it his own. Haru insisted that it had developed on land, but Rin only smiled and shook his head.

“Old traditions,” Rin had explained, from a time when the land and the sea were one. He hadn’t elaborated.

Haru tore off his goggles when he reached the other side of the volcano. There was nothing for miles—nothing but water, and more water, extending out toward the horizon. He drifted, treading water, shaking out his hair as he waited.

 _This is stupid_ , he thought, trying to look down into the ocean’s depths. _What am I doing?_

There was no reason the merman would return. He’d had his fun—he’d charmed a human, they’d raced, and then he’d gone back home. He had an entire world beneath the water that Haru couldn’t be a part of. He had a family and friends, he had his races and his fame, he didn’t need—

There was a ripple in the water.

Haru braced himself, in case it wasn’t the merman. He wasn’t sure he could outswim sea predators, but he would try. He was about to fit his goggles back on when the ripples burst and Rin broke out from his watery prison.

He _looked_ like a fish then, pushing himself upward and completely out of the water, then flopping down on his back. His tail flapped madly in the air, and it was the last thing to disappear again beneath the water. But he quickly reemerged, shaking out his hair as he grinned. “I thought you’d never come back!”

Haru pouted. “I had school.”

“Oh! I didn’t know humans have school, too.”

“Of course we have . . . too?” He shook his head. “Never mind.”

Rin looked different that day. He’d pulled his hair back, gathered into a low ponytail at the base of his neck. On his arms he wore gold bands—two of them this time, Haru noticed—and a gold necklace bearing an oversized ruby that fell against his sculpted chest. But his smile shone more than the adornments—radiant, glittering, for him.

Haru swam closer, studying the ponytail first. “How did you tie that?” Rin bowed his head a little, allowing Haru to see better. “Is that _seaweed_?”

“Neat, huh?” He shook his head, and a few strands of hair escaped from the ponytail. They stuck damp to his forehead. “And look at this!” He held out an arm, rotating it slightly to show off a gold armband. “I’m not really supposed to wear them anymore, but I had to prove to you that I’d won. First place in the North Pacific Reef races last year. I swear I’ll get ’em back next time.”

Haru touched the gold band, which felt like any other metal he’d known. It was held together with a complex locking mechanism on the underside of his arm. “How do you make them?”

Rin shrugged. “Dunno. The metalworkers do that. Wanna try it on?”

Before Haru could reply Rin was already unfastening it, twisting the lock and unlooping a bit of metal that kept that band securely in place.

“Here, gimme your arm.”

Rin’s hand was high on his biceps, clasping the band around it. Haru only watched, watching his fingers expertly handle the lock, watching him push the band up higher so it fit tighter. He watched Rin’s wrists, his forearms, then looked up at his face, at the smile that hadn’t yet faded.

“There!” Rin squeezed the newly-fastened band. “Your arms a little smaller than mine, but it fits.”

Haru touched the gold band. He lifted his arm to study the lock, wondering how it worked. Not that he wanted to figure it out.

Rin hovered closer. Too close, for anyone else, but Haru didn’t move. He was still staring at the gold band, feeling Rin’s heat off it, thinking of how it was created in this undersea world he hadn’t previously known existed with its mysterious metalworkers. Its _mermaid_ metalworkers.

“Haru . . .”

He finally looked up. Haru had never seen eyes that color, red like the ruby on Rin’s chest. They, too, were multifaceted, with more shades of red than Haru even knew possible. Rin’s smile softened. “Want to keep it?”

He rubbed his arm. “But it’s yours. You won it.”

“It’s okay.” Rin held up his other arm, the one that still bore the mark of victory. “I’ve got another.”

Then, Rin’s arm was around his shoulders. Rin was watching _him_ , studying his body, his face so close that Haru could feel the breath on his cheek. “Okay,” Haru said. “Thank you.” He smiled into the water, almost embarrassed to be smiling at all, feeling the band locked tight around his arm.

Rin squeezed his shoulder, flashing that brilliant grin at him again. “Let’s race.”

Rin wouldn’t race around the volcano; the opposite side was too visible from the shore. And, unlike last time, he didn’t want to swim farther out because they’d be directly over North Pacific Reef.

“Where is it?” Haru asked, peering into the water, like he could see.

Rin gazed out over the ocean. He slipped an arm around Haru’s shoulders again; Haru wondered if this was typical mermaid camaraderie, if they touched each other all the time as they spoke. He felt Rin’s tail against his legs, lazily sweeping from side to side as he tread water. He touched the goggles around Haru’s neck. “Put those on. I’ll show you from here. Look for a big rock, okay?”

Haru quickly nodded, then fitted his goggles over his eyes. Rin loved the goggles—Haru had let him wear them after their last race and he couldn’t stop laughing, splashing and zipping around underwater and marveling that he could swim _really fast_ without squinting. Now, he giggled again as Haru adjusted the straps. He went underwater, and Haru took a deep breath before following.

They remained close to the surface. Rin held him around the waist this time, pointing down to the ocean’s floor. Haru couldn’t see anything unusual at first. Rin snaked around him, pressed to his back as he pointed, forcing Haru to follow the line of his arm. He squinted. There was definitely _something_ down there; he thought he saw a little tunnel, something that Rin could easily fit through . . .

He came up gasping for air.

Unfortunately Rin was still clinging to him, and had been unprepared for the breach. He sputtered as he came up, clinging tightly around Haru’s waist, not letting go even as he coughed.

“Sorry,” Haru said. Rin’s tail had drifted beside him and Haru couldn’t resist touching it, holding it as Rin held to him. If not for the tail, Haru would forget that he was different. When they floated in the water, talking, he _did_ forget. But now, that tail was wrapped around his middle, just as Rin’s arms were; he gently held it like it were fragile, holding it close to his chest.

“You can hold it tighter,” Rin said, a mere whisper at Haru’s ear. “It’s okay.”

As if to demonstrate, Rin held tighter around Haru’s waist. And Haru followed suit—he hugged the tail, and the little fins at the end tickled his waist. Rin’s ruby was pressed hard against his back. Haru closed his eyes. This was a sensation for the water, the idle drifting, allowing the water to take control. Rin’s head was on his shoulder, Rin’s tail in his arms. He felt Rin breathe against his back, wondering if he had lungs.

“Did you see it?” Rin asked.

“I think so.”

He felt Rin’s face shift into a smile. “Guess it’s hard to see from here. I wish you could _really_ see it.”

It was only their second encounter. The first, they’d marveled at each other and swam countless races. Now, Rin leaned into him, and Haru wondered if this counted as being close to another person. Rin _was_ half-human. But he was more. He was _Rin_ , he was part of the sea, one with the water. He _breathed_ water; he slept in an undersea cave. He had merfriends, and a family, far below where humans had ever seen. And now this man, this _mer_ man, was closer to a human than he’d ever been—his first human encounter—engulfing him with his body, wrapping his arms and his tail around him as if to protect him.

The seaweed tie had fallen out of Rin’s hair. When Rin lowered his head over Haru’s shoulder, his hair was a curtain before his face. Haru stared at it, hair that wasn’t different than any human’s but a lot longer than his own, covering Rin’s face. Haru pushed it aside, tucking it behind his ear. Rin smiled again, his hand creeping up Haru’s chest.

“Stop that.”

Haru should’ve slipped from his embrace a lot sooner, he realized, once he’d let go. Even as he pouted he felt the imprint of that tail in his arms, Rin’s warmth on his naked back, the cold ruby pressed into his skin . . .

He thought he’d angered the merman, but he was still smiling. He combed a hand through his hair, tossing it over his shoulder. He flexed his arm, straining against the gold band. The gemstone at his chest reverberated with his laughter, sending sparks of light over the water. “Let’s swim.”

There was a protruding rock to the west, neither too close to shore nor to North Pacific Reef, which Rin decided was their finish line. It was far, but not any farther than Haru had swam before. He nodded with resolve, determined to outswim the merman this time. Haru pushed the gold band up, ensuring it stayed put on his arm. Every time Haru touched it, he caught Rin’s gentle smile from the corner of his eye.

There was no kickoff. When Rin called the start of the race, they bolted toward the rock. Haru had less momentum without a proper start, without his dive or a kick off the wall, but he kept up. He tried not to focus too much on Rin beside him under the water. He was skimming the surface; Haru sometimes caught a lock of hair or a fin grazing the breeze, but for the most part Rin swam completely underwater.

Haru swam faster. He pushed himself harder. The rock was a lot farther than he’d thought, but he was thrilled by the swim. He felt Rin beside him, and he felt the water around him. When Rin pulled ahead Haru kicked furiously, determined to keep up.

 _Doesn’t matter that he has a tail_ , he thought. _I’m faster._

The rock was looming closer and he couldn’t swim any faster, and he saw the bubbles of Rin’s laughter on the surface, actually _laughing_ as he swam, like the entire race was effortless. Haru couldn’t laugh—Haru had to _breathe_ ; he couldn’t inhale the water like Rin could, he couldn’t keep his face underwater though he tried.

He knew Rin had finished first, again, when the merman shouted his name. Haru hadn’t realized how close he was to the finish—he lifted his arm for the stroke, realizing too late that he was there, and smacked down on the jagged rock. Hard.

“Haru!”

He’d managed to stop before swimming head-first into the rock, but already the blood beaded on the back of his hand, scraped down to the wrist.

Haru winced as he clutched his hand. _“Oww.”_

Rin was hovering. Rin was being annoying, insisting to see his hand, assuring him that he could make it better. He was too close again, but there was a strange comfort in that tail wrapped around his legs, in the way Rin cradled him against his chest. “Lemme see it.”

Haru was sitting on his lap. Did mermen have laps? Rin looped one arm around Haru’s waist, holding him like a child as he studied his hand. He lay the broken skin over the wound like that was the only thing required to heal it.

Haru sucked in a breath through his teeth. “That hurts.”

“Sorry, sorry. Here.” Rin held the injured hand, careful not to touch the wound, and dipped it beneath the water. The saltwater stung at first but the pain quickly ceased, like it hadn’t been there at all. Haru was left with only a dull throb, similar to the pulsing of his skin after a hard swim. The blood ribboned off his skin, dissolving into the ocean.

“Won’t that”—Haru stared at his bloody hand—“attract . . . something?”

He felt the low chuckle in Rin’s chest. “There usually aren’t any predators here. But if anything comes . . . I’ll protect you.”

His hand was pulsing harder, though it didn’t hurt anymore. Haru’s head pulsed, too, and he wrapped one arm around Rin to steady himself. He stared out at the ocean over Rin’s shoulder. It _was_ beautiful out there, farther than he’d ever swam before, far from the bustle of human life. He couldn’t hear the sway of the trees on shore, the lapping of the waves on the sand. It was _calm_ , it was warm, and he was curled in the arms of a merman.

“Is it like this underwater?” Haru asked.

Rin lifted his head to the sky. Distantly, an airplane was passing overhead. “A little,” he said, watching the plane pass. “It’s quieter out here. What’s that?” he suddenly asked, pointing to the black speck in the sky.

Haru squinted as he looked up. “An airplane.”

“What’s it for?”

Then, Haru was teaching him about transportation. About the many ways humans moved, not only in airplanes (“It costs a lot to travel that way”), but also automobiles and trains, and bicycles for short distances.

“Can you swim anywhere?” Rin asked.

“No. There’s not enough water on land.”

Rin frowned. “That doesn’t sound like any fun.”

“It’s not.”

Rin’s face was close to his cheek now. Haru felt his damp breath, confirming that he could take oxygen in his lungs. Haru’s mouth was dry—he hadn’t had a drink since leaving land, which felt like so long ago now—and he wondered if Rin’s mouth was ever dry, if he ever thirsted, if his breath alone helped him from overheating even when he was on land.

Rin’s lips were closer. Not touching him, not yet—

Haru could stop him. He felt the light flutter of Rin’s lips as he breathed, and the increasing dampness on his cheek. Haru could slide off his lap to get away but he continued to hold on, ensuring his injured hand stayed beneath the water. The bleeding had stopped, though it would take a long while for the skin to heal.

“How does it feel?” Rin asked, touching the hand.

Haru didn’t stop him from cupping his palm, gently holding his fingers. Rin’s fingers were long, he noticed, as they wrapped around his own. “Better.”

Rin refused to let Haru swim back on his own. He didn’t want him to get hurt, despite Haru’s protests that he wouldn’t. But somehow, Haru found himself on the merman’s back, anyway. Arms wrapped around his shoulders, legs wrapped around his waist. Rin’s back was muscular, but surprisingly comfortable. Haru lay his head between his shoulder blades as Rin shifted, preparing to swim with the added weight.

“Tell me if I swim too fast,” Rin said.

“You better swim fast.”

Rin whooped in laughter as he bolted and Haru clutched harder, desperate to hold on, fearing every moment that he’d get thrown off the merman’s back. But then . . . he lifted his head. Rin’s wet hair smacked his face, but he refused to look down. Haru watched the water rushing by; he watched the clouds overhead. Haru felt the _swish_ of Rin’s tail, back and forth as he swam, the smooth, steady motion of his body. The return trip seemed much shorter as they slid beneath the volcano’s shadow, and too soon were they beside it again.

“My first passenger!” Rin said, as Haru climbed off his back. “How’d I do?”

Haru sank down into the water to his chin. “Fine.”

“Is your hand still okay?”

To prove it was fine, Haru slipped the hand out of the water. The sudden switch from water to air was shocking and the scrape began to pulse again, but Rin had been right—the saltwater helped. It was already feeling better.

Rin grasped the hand again, studying the wound like he was surprised it was still there. But then he was studying Haru’s entire hand instead, tracing his fingers, admiring his fingernails. He suddenly looked up, his eyes glittering like his ruby. “Can I see your feet?”

It was a strange request. But Haru lay back on the water anyway, aimlessly drifting as Rin clutched one of his feet. He squirmed—Rin didn’t know how much that _tickled_ —but then Rin handled them carefully, like Haru’s uneasiness were a sign that Rin had hurt him. Rin held around his ankle, tracing the veins at the top of the foot, touching each of his toes one by one. “Almost like hands,” he murmured. “Can you pick things up with them?”

“No,” Haru said, his eyes closed to the sunlight. “They’re for walking.”

Rin’s nose was on his foot now, lightly nuzzling it as he held the heel. “Can I see you walk?”

Haru sighed. “There’s nowhere to walk here.”

Then Rin’s hands were crawling up his leg. Slowly, massaging the muscles, rubbing the fine layer of hair. He felt Haru’s calf muscle, felt the soft spot under his knee. Haru squirmed again when he touched the underside of the knee, and Rin quickly moved his fingers away from the spot.

“Humans are so sensitive,” he said, touching Haru’s quads.

Haru grumbled. “Shut up.”

He slid a hand over the jammers, and Haru stiffened when he touched the inside of his thigh. _Don’t go higher_ , he thought, but would Rin know? Did he know, as his hand moved higher, or was he feigning ignorance?

“That’s enough,” Haru said, dipping back underwater when Rin’s hand reached between his legs.

“You have a lot of muscles,” Rin said, touching Haru’s shoulders now. “I didn’t know humans were so strong.”

“Some aren’t,” he replied, staring at Rin’s arms. Rin’s hands were on his back now, his shoulder blades and his spine, then down his triceps and his forearms until he held Haru’s hands. He gently held to Haru’s fingers, careful not to brush anywhere near his injury.

Rin had really nice lips. And his features were so sharp, his cheekbones casting shadows on his face, his jaw angled down to the point of his chin. Even his eyes seemed more defined, deep and expressive, the sharp angle of his brows as they lifted in curiosity or widened in delight. At first glance, he looked human. But the more Haru watched him, the more the details didn’t match what he knew to be human. The more he understood that they weren’t of the same world.

“You’re so pretty,” Rin said, taking Haru’s face in his hands.

He couldn’t even find the strength to argue. He still stared at Rin’s face, visually tracing his sharp lines. Rin’s tail wound around his legs again, pulling them closer together. His fin brushed his backside, teasing him. He lowered Haru’s head to kiss his forehead; his kiss _was_ damp, but warm, feeling like the ocean itself. He kissed between Haru’s brows, and the bridge of his nose. He kissed the tip of his nose, and his upper lip. Haru smelled the saltwater on his breath, the moisture on his lips. Rin smiled, rubbing Haru’s cheeks with his thumbs, tilting his head for a kiss.

But they didn’t yet kiss.

Haru breathed in deep, inhaling his scent. Intoxicating. He smelled of the deep sea. Of fish, and salt, and seaweed. He smelled of _life_ , a life Haru had never known. A life Haru envied. Rin’s eyes were half-closed, and he was waiting. Waiting for Haru to accept him. To taste him.

The moment Haru’s hands were on his hips, a shudder ripped through Rin’s body. Haru felt it—the cold shiver of his muscles, a ripple under the skin. He slid his hands farther down, where skin met scales. He cupped Rin’s backside, wondering if he _had_ a backside, like humans did. But it had the desired result, the low moan in Rin’s throat, the tightening of the tail around Haru’s body.

Rin still waited. He waited for Haru’s wandering hands to hold him, waited for Haru’s lips to meet his.

When Haru kissed him, it mattered not that he hadn’t had a drink since breakfast.

Rin’s mouth opened to him, tasting of all the Pacific. Slightly salty, but moist and warm, his tongue carefully sliding between sharp teeth and into Haru’s mouth. Even in that kiss, Rin intended to help him—he tasted his thirst, and shared his moisture. He held Haru closer, his arms and his tail, sinking down to their necks so Haru could feel the water more, could feel _him_. Haru wrapped a leg around his waist, allowed Rin to feel his thigh, to slip a hand up his jammers. Haru wondered if the merman could feel his erection, if he knew what it was. He wondered how merpeople had sex; were they more like humans, or more like fish?

Rin’s kiss was slow, sensual, and he moaned deeper, presssing his body to Haru’s. The ruby was sharp against Haru’s chest, and he hoped it would leave an imprint. He pressed closer still to Rin, wanting it to pierce his skin. Wanting the reminder that Rin was real—this was no myth—that they’d kissed, that his body had been surrounded by Rin’s hands and his mouth and his tail.

“Wow.” Rin spoke before their lips even parted.

Haru kissed him again, hungrily, eagerly.

_“Haru.”_

Haru stroked his tail, feeling the rippling muscles beneath the scales. Rin arched his back, pressing that gemstone into Haru’s chest again.

“I want to see you again,” Haru said, his lips brushing Rin’s.

Rin’s smile was beautiful. Glittering like the sea, like his eyes, like the ruby around his neck. He stroked Haru’s backside, the backs of his thighs, his calves. Haru arched his head back as Rin kissed his neck. He nipped the skin, and his teeth weren’t as sharp as he’d thought. He sucked on the soft skin, working down his throat, sinking farther into the water to kiss his chest. Underwater, he kissed Haru’s stomach, rolled down the band of his jammers to kiss farther down his belly.

 _He can breathe underwater_ , Haru remembered, staring wide-eyed at the top of Rin’s head.

Rin came back up, resting his chin on Haru’s stomach, staring up at him with such childlike wonder. His fingers played at Haru’s waist, his lips brushing his stomach. “Don’t leave,” he said, holding his hips. “Stay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ([Here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/93514387668) on tumblr.)


	3. Chapter 3

There was an old legend, passed down by generations of merchildren, of a wicked seawitch who snatched up wayward children in the open water. The legends were rarely consistent—sometimes, it was said the witch would kidnap the merchildren and turn them into humans, tossing them to the shore to perish. Sometimes, they said she’d gather them for food, which only strengthened her power.

Either way, Rin thought, it was a ploy to get merkids out of the water, keeping them within the safety of North Pacific Reef.

 _If the wicked seawitch is to save us from humans_ , he thought, slipping back into the reef, _then there is nothing to be saved from._

Humans were wonderful, Rin had decided. His skin and his lips still tingled, his fingertips burning with the warmth of Haru’s skin. He grinned as he sped for home, wishing he could tell someone. _Anyone_. Wishing he could tell them of the wonderful human boy he’d met, the first boy he’d kissed.

Rin shivered again, thinking of that kiss. Haru’s mouth had been a little dry, but that was okay. He tasted really good, a little like fish. He wondered what fish Haru liked. He wondered what he ate on land, and if it was different than the fare of the sea.

He wondered what he learned at school. What his friends were like. What kind of clothes he wore besides his swimming outfit. He wondered if Haru had ever kissed someone before him. (But Rin didn’t really want to think about that.) Already he wanted it to be the following week—Haru had explained about his school schedule—just so he could go back, and kiss him more, and maybe Haru would bring him something from land, like he’d shared something from the sea.

“Oi, Rin!”

He whipped around, his hair wildly flying around him. _Sousuke!_ But he _definitely_ wouldn’t understand. Of all the merpeople in the ocean, he couldn’t share his joy with the only one he shared his secrets with . . .

“Where’ve you been?” Sousuke asked as he approached. “I wanted you to come to the patrol session with me today.”

“To the . . .” Rin shook his head. “I’m not gonna be on patrol.”

“Why not? We could do it together.”

“I—”

“What’s that?” Sousuke hovered closer, staring at the gold armband. “You shouldn’t be wearing that. And where’s the other one?”

“Oh?” Rin nervously laughed, rubbing the band like he could hide it. “Just put on the one for a little while. I was swimming around the open water.”

Sousuke grinned. “Forgot what victory feels like, eh?”

Rin laughed along with him, hoping it didn’t sound forced and shallow. He had to get home, he explained; he had to take it off, and he promised he wouldn’t wear it again.

Which was a lie, of course—he’d wear the gold armband at night, as he slept, knowing that Haru kept its match in his dry, land-dwelling world. When he got home he slipped into his sleepcave, then tucked the gold band into a crevasse near his head. Rin _hadn’t_ forgotten what victory felt like, just like the feel of Haru’s hands hadn’t yet faded. He curled into himself, muffling his squeals in his tail. He remembered how Haru held that tail, fascinated every time his fingers grazed it. And Rin loved his little legs as well, and his small feet, and how everything about Haru was small and perfect but he was strong, too. It was like imagining Gou with Sousuke’s strength. It seemed impossible, but it wasn’t. It was Haru.

His sister was calling for him. Rin combed his hair with his fingers, hoping his cheeks weren’t still flushed. It was dinnertime, he knew; he’d spent all day in the open water. He slipped out of his sleepcave, anticipating the mackerel his mother had prepared for dinner. A perfect end to a perfect day, Rin had to admit. He was still grinning as he zipped for the dining cave.

But a week was too long before he saw the human boy again. Rin fidgeted in North Pacific Reef—he sat through school, keeping his mouth shut during the lecture about land-dwelling predators. There was a likeness of a human in their Human Studies book, whose image was short and grotesque and carried a fishing net. Rin grit his teeth, staring at the ugly drawing. He wished he could draw—he’d draw a beautiful, long-limbed boy with the bluest eyes, who had small feet and a soft smile.

It wasn’t until the teacher called his name that Rin realized he was raising his hand.

“Huh? Uh . . .” Around him, his classmates snickered. Sousuke, sitting beside him, raised an eyebrow. “They _can’t_ look like this,” Rin said, holding up the book, “if we all came from the same place!”

And then the teacher was droning on about evolution. How their ancestors of the seas could keep their beautiful forms while those who relocated to land had evolved, with their dry skin and dull teeth and stunted growth. “They’re much smaller,” the teacher went on, “because their bodies desire the water deep within the earth. They’re envious of us sea-dwellers, and must be avoided.”

“Bullshit,” Rin murmured, but only Sousuke could hear him.

He couldn’t get out of school fast enough. He held to his Human Studies book as he swam, even though he’d have liked to toss it into the depths of the sea. He hoped Sousuke wouldn’t catch up to him, but his friend easily lived up to his title of fastest merman in the North Pacific Reef.

“Wanna explain that?” he said, jerking his head toward the book.

Rin looked down, his hands trembling around the edges of the book. “It doesn’t make sense! This class is stupid.”

When Rin reached home, where Sousuke would usually wave as he bolted off, he stopped instead. He stared at Rin’s arm, which now held the silver armband, but he noticed how Rin wouldn’t look at him, only staring off at some indistinguishable spot over his shoulder. “What’s gotten into you?” Sousuke asked. “Are you suddenly a human sympathizer?”

He answered too quickly. “No!”

Sousuke lightly punched his shoulder. “Hey, come to the patrol session tomorrow. There are some good guys trying out for the force. You’ll like them.”

“Man,” Rin whined, dramatically tossing his head back. “School _just_ got out, and you want me to sit still _again_?”

But Rin had his own plans the next day. He hardly slept at all that night, waking before the sunlight penetrated the deep sea. He got ready quietly, as not to wake his family. Rin removed the gold armband, the one he’d slept in, for his second-place victory instead. He rummaged through his collection of jewels, pulling out one of few silver necklaces he had. It was a long, thick chain, though held no gemstone. He dug deeper into his treasure box. Most of his stones were red, but he’d found other colors over the years—some green, a lot of them small and clear . . .

 _Yes!_ The sapphire. A big, blue stone with a loop on top, which just fit over his silver chain. When it sat around his neck, the stone lay just below his chest. “Perfect,” he whispered, touching the stone before he slipped out of home, out of North Pacific Reef, and into open water.

Rin spread his arms wide and laughed as he swam toward the surface, welcoming the first rays of sunlight. The open water was always so cold in the morning, but Rin was already warm with the knowledge he’d see the human boy soon. He spun around, corkscrewing upward, dizzy and laughing as the surface advanced on him.

When he burst from the water he instantly felt the first rays of the sun, which was already hot through it hadn’t completed its own morning ritual. Rin climbed onto a rock, watching the orange sunrise over the horizon. He idly flapped his fin, creating small splashes in the water.

“I’ll see Haru today,” he said, propping his chin on folded arms. The sky grew brighter as the sun lifted higher still, and Rin held out an arm to watch the glint of his silver band. He flopped to his back, holding the sapphire to the light. It shone from within, much like the human’s eyes.

“Beautiful.” He sighed and stretched his arms over his head, the gem cold and wet on his drying chest.

He sat up at the first splash of water. It was a consistent sound, the distinct music of someone swimming on the water’s surface. Rin squinted toward the inactive volcano.

_There he is!_

Haru was swimming around the mountain, returning to the spot where they first kissed. And where they kissed again, and again. Rin couldn’t hold back his mirth as he jumped back into the water, swimming toward the mountain, and to Haru. He saw Haru’s feet in the water and knew he’d stopped swimming, and was waiting for him.

Rin slowed in his approach. He made sure Haru knew he was there—the human was already glancing underwater, seeking him—before he tickled Haru’s legs, grabbing one to hold on tight. The bubbles of Rin’s laughter broke the surface and Haru reached underwater, stroking his hair as Rin nuzzled his leg. He didn’t even push Rin away this time when his hands crept higher, tickling high on the inside of his thigh.

He used Haru’s leg to vault himself up, poking his head out of the water. “Hi!”

Haru smiled. “Hey.”

For a moment, Rin couldn’t figure out how he looked different. But then he saw the dark eye covers on his head, which had pushed back his hair. He could see even more of his eyes, he noticed now, and they were even brighter in the early-morning sun and without his hair covering them. But then Rin frowned, noticing the second pair that was dangling around his neck. “Why do you have two eye covers?”

“Goggles,” Haru said, peeling the second pair off from around his neck. “These are for you.”

Rin rolled his eyes back to watch Haru put them on, and then his eyes were protected as the goggles were fitted over them.

“ _Really?_ ”

Haru tightened the strap. “I have a lot of them.”

Rin pressed the goggles to his eyes, then snapped the strap at the back of his head. _“Oww.”_ But he grinned, disappearing underwater to test them out.

“Awesome!” he cried, looking around. The lenses restricted his peripheral vision a little, but everything was so _clear_. He zipped around Haru, keeping his eyes wide open as he swam. He didn’t have to squint at all! He even noticed Haru coming down to watch, and Rin stopped to peck his lips once he was fully submersed.

Kissing Haru underwater felt _really nice_.

He only wished Haru could open his mouth—or even move it—but he held Rin’s shoulders as he was kissed, and Rin realized belatedly that Haru had closed his eyes. But he didn’t need to! He was wearing goggles!

When they came up, Rin hugged him tight around the shoulders. “Thank you.” Tears filled the bottoms of the goggles, and it made him laugh again.

“They’re just goggles,” Haru said. “And I have something else.”

“Hmm?” Rin hadn’t noticed at first, but when Haru took his hand out of the water, there was a tiny band around his wrist. When he combed his fingers through Rin’s hair the merman relaxed, wrapping his tail around Haru. The human combed his hair again and again, pulling it into a low ponytail and stretching something around it.

“What was that?” Rin asked, touching the back of his head. His hair was pulled back really tight.

“It’s a hair elastic,” Haru said. “It holds better than seaweed.”

Rin shook his head, then shook it faster, feeling the tiny ponytail tickling his neck. It didn’t fall out! It didn’t even loosen! He grabbed Haru by the shoulders and kissed him again.

Now, above the water, Haru _could_ move his mouth, and he did, immediately opening to Rin’s kiss, and this time Haru didn’t taste dry. Haru’s hands were around him, touching the scales low on his back, and he sighed a little as they kissed, and Rin felt that bulge again in the front of his swimming outfit.

Rin didn’t have to ask what _that_ was. But he was more surprised by how _quickly_ it had happened.

“Let’s swim,” Haru said, though their lips still touched.

Rin pulled back, pushing Haru’s wet hair from his face, amused over how it stayed back for a little while before flopping back down. “I want to show you something,” Rin said, pushing his hair back again. “How long can you hold your breath?”

It wasn’t a _long_ swim through the tunnel to the inactive volcano. Rin had studied the way Haru swam the last time they were together, making sure he could hold his breath a long time. And Haru seemed confident about his breath-holding abilities. To test him, he made Haru wait underwater as Rin went through the tunnel and then came back. Rin swam as fast as he could, zipping into the tunnel and then back out, and just as Rin was emerging Haru was clawing for the surface to breathe. _He’ll be fine_ , Rin thought, positively giddy. Haru had to catch his breath now, after holding it for so long, but he would be fine. Rin kissed his cheek, placing a hand over his chest to feel how fast his heart was beating. It slowed down a little as the oxygen flowed through his lungs again. But Rin’s hand still lingered, feeling the contours of his chest, amazed by the steady pulse that beat from within. Haru touched his hand, then lifted it to his cheek.

“Ready?” Rin asked, and nodded.

They waited until the last possible moment to go underwater. They swam close to the volcano and Haru looked up at it, studying it like he could already see its interior. Rin nudged him with nail and pressed the goggles over his eyes, just like Haru had. He snapped the strap—it didn’t hurt this time—to make sure they were tight enough, and then he dipped beneath the water.

Rin was consistently surprised by how fast the human boy could swim. He bolted through the tunnel, knowing that Haru had to hold his breath the entire time, wanting to get to the other side as fast as possible.

But halfway through the journey, Rin could tell something was wrong. He looked over at Haru but his cheeks were puffy, like he was about to let out all his breath, and he was slowing down. Panicked, Rin grabbed him, and Haru held so tightly around his waist as he swam faster, desperate to get to the surface. Haru pressed his face to Rin’s chest, and he felt the tiny bubbles that meant he was releasing his breath, that he couldn’t hold it much longer.

“We’re almost there!” Rin cried, wondering if Haru could understand the words underwater. Perhaps he had; Haru held to him even tighter, and Rin almost found it romantic even though the human was about to faint.

Haru’s eyes widened when they emerged from the tunnel and Rin zipped upward, never wanting to get to the surface so bad before. He burst out of the water, feeling Haru’s deep breath of relief when he could breathe again. Rin flopped to his back, cradling Haru’s head to make sure he didn’t go underwater again.

“I’m sorry, Haru,” Rin said, as the boy collapsed on his chest.

“S’fine,” he replied, still breathing hard. But then he looked up, gazing upon the natural wonders of the volcano’s interior.

It had been a long time since Rin had first visited the secret place, and he’d grown used to the scenery. But he imagined now, seeing this for the first time again, and it was beautiful—around the perimeter were spots they could sit, outcrops of rock and stone that it was easy for a mermaid to pull up onto. There was vegetation everywhere, small trees and bushes with edible fruit, and deep green vines crawled up the volcano’s walls. High above, the mouth looked out to the blue sky, the clouds and birds passing overhead.

“Wow,” Haru said, staring up at the sky.

“Pretty, isn’t it? Sousuke and I are the only merpeople who come here. Well . . . maybe. But we’ve been visiting since we were kids and haven’t seen anyone else.”

“Sousuke?” Haru lifted an eyebrow.

“Oh!” Rin grinned. “He’s my best friend! I think you’d like him. But he . . .”

Haru waited when he drifted off. “But?”

“Nothing.” Rin smiled wider. “He’s busy today. Let me show you around!”

Haru was still catching his breath, so Rin flopped over so he could ride on his back. Rin slowly swam around the volcano as Haru admired it, his arms around Rin’s shoulders and his legs wrapped around his waist. Rin showed him which plants were edible, and pointed out the small fish that swam far below that were good for eating.

“Ever have mackerel?” Rin asked.

Haru shook his head. “We don’t have it in the village.”

“You’ve never had _mackerel_? This changes today!” Rin wiggled so Haru slipped off his back, and then ducked beneath the water. He had to find a good one—he ignored the fish that lazily swam past, zeroing in on one of the feistier ones. He circled the warm water inside the volcano, chasing the mackerel, cursing each time it slipped from his hands. The fish knew it was targeted now. It swam erratically, trying to escape, but Rin was faster. No mackerel was going to outswim the former champion of the North Pacific Reef races. He whooped in victory when grabbing the fish in both hands, holding it tight as he shimmied back up to the surface.

“Got one!” he said, holding the wriggling fish out to Haru. “Try it!”

Haru inched back, eying the fish warily. “I’m not eating that.”

“Why not! It’s delicious!”

“We have to cook it.”

“Cook . . . ?” Haru was climbing out of the water now, looking around like he expected to find something useful in the vegetation. Rin drifted over. “What’s ‘cook’?”

But Haru didn’t reply. He snapped a few twigs from a tree, then plopped down on the rock to rub them together. It was a strange sight—the human boy sitting with his legs crossed, leaning over the two sticks. “Not working,” he grumbled, grinding them harder together.

The fish was losing its momentum. It was limp in Rin’s hands, only twitching in one last attempt to escape. Rin propped his head on the rock to watch Haru, who was grumbling more when nothing was happening. “What is this?” he asked.

“Making a fire,” Haru said.

“ _Fire_? Cool!” He tossed the fish ashore—it flopped near Haru’s foot—and Rin climbed from the water for a closer look. He curled his tail beneath him and leaned over the stick.

“Not so close,” Haru said. “It gets hot.”

“I know that!”

 _Fire_. He’d never seen fire; he didn’t know how to make it. But by the looks of it, the human didn’t know, either. No matter how much he rubbed the sticks, nothing was happening. When Rin would stick his face closer to the kindling, Haru would gently push him back.

“Haru, look!”

There was a spark. Haru smiled, working the sticks harder, until a small fire burst forth from the pile of sticks.

 _“Wow.”_ Rin didn’t lean too close now, because he could feel the fire without touching it. It was hot, hotter than the water during high noon. Hotter than the vents at the bottom of the ocean. He hovered a hand over it, seeing how close he could get. Haru was about to push his hand away when he snatched it back. “It’s really hot,” Rin marveled.

Haru was spearing the mackerel on a stick, and then he held it over the fire. Rin leaned forward again, despite how hot the fire was, and watched. He felt his chest warm, and then realized it was the _necklace_ that was hot, not his skin.

“Oww!” The necklace was _burning_. He took it off, juggling it between both hands before dropping it to the ground. “Why is it so hot?”

Haru glanced at the necklace. “Metal gets hot really quickly.”

But he could get closer, now that the necklace was off. He kept his silver armband turned away from the fire, just in case, as he watched Haru cook the fish. Slowly, the fish began to change. It wasn’t wet and shiny anymore. It was _dry_ , and looked . . .

“What’s that called?” Rin said, pointing to the fish. “When it’s not soft anymore?”

Haru frowned. “Hard?”

“No, I know _that_ word!”

Haru lifted the fish from the fire to poke the skin. A piece crackled off and into the flames. “Crispy?”

“Crispy!” Rin laughed. “Humans have funny words.”

Haru turned the fish over the fire over and over, making sure all sides were evenly heated. Rin wasn’t sure when he knew it was done, but Haru seemed satisfied enough when he set the fish on the ground. He tossed a handful of dirt on the fire to extinguish it, and Rin cupped some ocean water to help.

“Try it now,” Rin said, pointing to the mackerel. “Now that it’s cook.”

Haru smiled. “Cooked.”

“That’s what I said!”

Haru held the stick in both hands, the fish speared between them. He sniffed it, and didn’t recoil, which Rin took as a good sign. When he bit down the fish crunched ( _Crispy_ , Rin thought), and then chewed slowly, thoughtfully, before swallowing.

“So?” Rin sat up straighter. “So??”

Haru stared at the fish, holding the stick tighter in both hands. _“Amazing.”_

“Let me try it cooked!”

Haru wasn’t so quick to hand over the fish. He took another bite and Rin yelped, sliding over beside him and nudging his face out of the way. “Let me,” he said, and sniffed at the fish. It was definitely less _fishy_ smelling, and it was a lot darker, but if Haru liked it then it had to be good.

Rin took a bite.

He backed away, violently shaking his head, forcing down the dark, crispy fish. “That’s not mackerel!”

“Yes it is,” Haru said, tearing off another piece with his teeth.

Rin frowned. “I don’t like cooked.” He then sprawled across the rock, flapping his tail against Haru’s leg as he reached into the ocean for another fish. “Now _this_ ,” he said, grabbing one at random, “is mackerel.” He lay back, his head in Haru’s lap now, as he bit down on the still-wriggling fish.

“Mermaids are weird.”

“Mer _man_ ,” Rin said, his fin smacking the ground.

“Tell me about North Pacific Reef,” Haru replied, rather than argue.

He spoke of the races. He bragged that he’d won the first year he’d registered. He told him about his family, and his best friend. He didn’t mention school, because the Humans Studies lecture still made him angry. But Haru didn’t ask—he wanted to know more about the races, and more about his friends. He wanted to know how they ate and where they lived. They’d discarded the remains of their fish, simply watching each other, with Rin doing most of the talking.

“It would be so much nicer if you could _visit_ ,” Rin said, running his fingers along Haru’s jaw. Haru shivered slightly beneath the touch. “What do you call mating on the land?”

“Mating . . . ?” Haru’s eyes widened slightly.

“ _You_ know,” Rin replied, stroking the underside of his chin. “When you become one with your mate.”

“Is that what you call it?” Haru asked, holding back a laugh. “‘Mates’ and ‘mating’?”

“Don’t laugh at me!” Rin curled to his side, away from Haru, staring out at the water instead. But he didn’t move when Haru stroked his hair, and his anger was quickly forgotten when a kiss fluttered his temple.

“I’m not laughing,” he said. “It’s having sex. And _mates_ ”—he swallowed another laugh—“is a boyfriend or girlfriend. Or husband and wife, if you’re married.”

Rin turned onto his back again to look at Haru’s face. He smiled, seeing that face gazing down at him. “You have too many words. And ‘sex’ does not sound romantic.”

Haru swept Rin’s fringe away from his forehead. “It’s called a lot of things. Or ‘making love’.”

“Ah!” Rin sat up, twisting his tail around Haru and grinning madly, tugging on his arm with both his hands. “I like that better! Love is romantic.” He nuzzled Haru’s shoulder, tightening his tail’s embrace around his body. “I’d like to make love to _you_.”

“That’s not something you just _do_. . .”

“I know that!” He propped his chin on Haru’s shoulder, staring at the side of his face. Haru was sweating a lot. It was something Rin had learned the last time they were together— _sweat_. Haru did it after he was moving around a lot, like swimming. Something about cooling down his body, which Rin didn’t need because he lived in the water. But Rin didn’t know why he was sweating _now_. They weren’t even moving. “Since you’re a boy, and we’re not married, you’re my boyfriend, right?”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Why not?” Rin pouted. “I want you as my mate. My _boyfriend_.”

Haru never confirmed the request, at least not verbally. But Rin thought it meant something that he was pushed to the ground, that Haru was lying beside him and they were kissing now. Haru had worked the hair elastic out and was playing with Rin’s hair, combing it through and massaging the base of his skull, and by that little gesture Rin understood all those little moans Haru made when they were kissing. Rin felt his way down Haru’s chest, stroking his stomach as they kissed. His hand brushed the bulge in his swimming outfit and Haru moaned more, arching his back, pressing the bulge into Rin’s hand.

He was still panting when Rin pulled away. “Please remove your swimming outfit,” he whispered, and then Haru’s hands were touching Rin’s, and Rin watched as the shiny fabric peeled off his legs.

It was . . . different. Haru had even paler skin under the swimsuit, and Rin wondered how his penis had stayed inside, because it was a lot bigger and longer than it had felt before. Rin slid the end of his tail up Haru’s leg, making sure to touch the inside of his thigh (he always seemed to like that), before resting on the penis, feeling it first with his tail as his hands touched the rest of Haru’s body.

Haru _liked_ the tail. He had from the beginning, fascinated from the first moment he’d touched it, and now he held it in both hands again, grinding his hips into it. Rin didn’t have to do anything—Haru was rocking against him, tilting his head back, and when he opened his mouth Rin kissed him, eager to slip his tongue inside again.

“The water,” Haru said, his voice low and throaty. Rin smiled, gathering him in his arm as they slid down off the rock, into the ocean, hidden beneath the water as their hands and mouths wandered in open air.

Rin wanted to ask him so many questions. He wanted to know about his penis, and how it worked. Was it the same as his own? But it had come out _so fast_ , and Rin was afraid to touch it. But _Haru_ was touching it, a lot, so Rin gently pried his hands away to hold it himself.

It felt weird, a little wrinkly. He started to pump up and down, slowly, which Haru liked, since he grabbed harder onto Rin’s shoulder. Rin’s name got caught in his throat, interrupted by a low moan, and Rin held him harder.

Rin had only played with himself once—mermen weren’t so easily aroused as humans, he knew now—and even though Haru _felt_ different, the motions were the same. He had the same sensitive spots, even if it was bigger and felt different.

“We’re the same,” Rin said, running circles around the tip, feeling the trembling of Haru’s limbs.

Haru touched him then, a little higher where his own arousal would be, but it felt really good. Anywhere Haru touched him felt good. He was looking for it, Rin realized, running his hand over the front of his tail and trying to find the bulge hidden within. “Not now,” Rin said, swinging his tail around and out of Haru’s reach. Because how could he explain that his body _didn’t_ react to mere touches, that it instinctively responded only to the prospect of procreation, not by pleasure alone?

“Rin . . .”

But it was worth it, when Haru breathed his name, his nails digging into his shoulders.

“Please feel good, human boyfriend.”

Haru smiled, pulling him closer as Rin worked harder. “Rin . . . ah . . . I’m gonna”—He sucked in a breath—“I’m gonna come . . .”

Rin lifted his head. “What?”

But the word needed no explanation when Haru released, when his head tilted back and he let out a beautiful moan, one that _Rin_ had provided, one that meant Rin had done well. He smiled as Haru buried his face in his shoulder, breathing hard. His body was so _relaxed_ now, and Rin curled his tail beneath him so Haru could cuddle into his lap.

But Haru’s comfort and his happiness were a temporary measure, and Rin froze when he heard the rippling of the water, the sign that someone had been there the whole time, now bolting upward toward them. Haru tried to let go but Rin held on tighter, squeezing his eyes shut like he could make it go away, like he could stay there forever with Haru and no one ever, ever had to know.

“Rin, what the hell are you doing?”

He could pretend it wasn’t happening until he heard that voice, the deep baritone that only grew deeper with disappointment.

_“Rin?”_

“You shouldn’t be here,” Rin lamely replied, holding tighter to Haru’s slack body.

“No,” Sousuke said, “ _he_ shouldn’t be here.”

“Sousuke, please . . . I want you to meet—”

“You’re coming home.” His friend was yanking on his arm, too hard, and Haru fell into the water, unprepared and choking when his head came back up.

“Haru!”

Sousuke was trying to go underwater, to pull him toward the tunnel, but Rin pulled in the opposite direction, feeling the strain of his shoulder socket as he reached for Haru.

“I— I can’t just _leave_ him! He needs me to get out . . . !”

“Leave him.”

Haru hadn’t said anything. He just watched, staring as Rin was pulled away, by the merboy he claimed to be his best friend. Rin thrashed wildly, shouting for Sousuke to listen, still stretching an arm out like he could reach Haru, like there was any hope they could stay there, forever, as he wanted.

“I’ll come back, human boyfriend! I’ll—!”

He was yanked underwater, sputtering. Finally Haru moved, sinking under the surface, looking for him even though he wasn’t wearing his goggles. Haru shouted something but his cries were silent underwater; a trail of bubbles escaped from his mouth, and Rin thought he heard his own name as they escaped on the water’s surface.

He realized too late, after Sousuke had already pulled him into the tunnel, that he’d left his goggles and hair elastic on the stone where they’d shared their mackerel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ([Here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/93894653933) on tumblr.)


	4. Chapter 4

Haru preferred to live alone. In retrospect, he’d been a little disappointed at first when his parents left. Father had a really good job opportunity, and Haru was perfectly fine and settled in Iwatobi High School, and it would be too hard for their hyper-introverted son to adapt to a new high school.

But his solitude wasn’t something he thought about regularly—it was a natural part of life, like preparing meals or swimming or going to school. But as he trudged home that night, slamming the front door behind him, he was grateful that there wasn’t anyone to see him slump to the foyer floor.

He was still soaked and smelled of seawater. He’d been wet when pulling his clothes back on, and hadn’t given himself a moment to dry before running home. His limbs were heavy with exhaustion, he was unable to even keep his head up, but he ran anyway. Haru flopped to the floor, using his house slippers as a pillow, and promptly passed out.

 

* * *

 

There’s a moment that reality hits where you’re not certain what just happened has happened, where you’re lost or abandoned or flat-out _alone_ , with no one prospect of how to get out.

Sometimes literally.

Haru stayed in that mountain a long time, Rin’s screaming echoing over the walls of the volcano and in his mind. The splash of the mermen had long since faded, but that voice hadn’t. He still felt the hands on his body and between his legs, his lips tingling with Rin’s kisses.

It was high noon; the sun was a spotlight over the mouth of the volcano, beating down on the water. Haru had managed to pull himself out with shaking arms, then shimmy back into his jammers. The reminders of Rin’s existence sat on the rock nearby—the extinguished fire; Haru’s meager gifts of the goggles and hair elastic; and Rin’s silver necklace.

Haru touched the sapphire, like it would still be hot. It was warm from sitting beneath the sun, but didn’t burn. Somehow, this surprised him. He picked it up and held it to the light, noticing now how beautiful the stone was. It was a deep blue that came to life when the sun hit it, illuminating the sharp angles within.

He’d missed the ruby when Rin showed up that day, but understood now why he wore the sapphire instead. It was like a reflection, staring at that blue stone, and Haru was saddened more that Rin hadn’t brought it home.

He put it on. It was surprisingly heavy, but he liked the new weight on his chest.

Haru would’ve liked to have eaten something before attempting to get out. He had no experience catching fish with his bare hands, though he tried. He’d brush a fin, or the fish would slip by his hands, but he knew he couldn’t bear to eat it, anyway. Holding a fish was too familiar now; he couldn’t bring himself to roast it over a fire. He picked through the bushes on land instead, hungry enough to risk getting sick over the potentially not-edible-for-humans berries.

“Raspberries,” he mumbled, picking them off the bush. He sniffed a berry, suddenly wary, but his stomach grumbled from scent alone. He tossed it into his mouth. “It’s good.”

 

There was a knock on the door. Haru shifted onto his back, grumbling, remembering now that he hadn’t locked the front door. It slid open and Makoto’s bulk filled the doorway. Haru squinted, though the sun was dim as it set.

“Haru! What happened?!”

He closed his eyes again but Makoto was inside now, and he was too weak to argue with his fussing—though even in full health, Makoto’s fussing was near impossible to get out of.

“You’re soaking wet!” Makoto pressed the back of his hand to Haru’s forehead. “Don’t go anywhere. I’m going to draw you a bath.”

“Don’t go anywhere . . .” His head flopped back to the slipper. _Where would I go?_

* * *

 

He’d walked the perimeter of the volcano twice. He’d climbed over rocks, pulling weeds out by the roots, searching for an exit. There _had_ to be a tunnel besides the one underwater. There had to be another way out. The sun had passed over the mouth of the volcano, so it wasn’t as hot, but Haru was starving. The roasted mackerel from hours ago wasn’t sustaining him any longer; he had to eat. He had to build up strength to get through that tunnel.

Haru dived back into the water. It was warm now, and it felt good, even if Rin wasn’t there. There were fish swimming close to the water’s surface, so he didn’t have to go far. He grabbed at them frantically, desperately trying to catch one. When he’d wrap his hands around a tail, the fish would wriggle away. He tried to ignore how similar the mackerel’s body felt to Rin’s.

 _Rin’s not a fish_ , he thought, grabbing for another. _He’s a merman._

His groin pulsed with the thought, with the memory of Rin’s smile and sculpted abs and his wide, toned shoulders. He remembered how his wet hair clung to his forehead, and how excited he’d been about the hair elastic. He remembered the tail curled around him, the arms cradling him like he needed protection.

“I don’t need protection,” he said aloud, finally catching a fish in his hands. It squirmed madly but Haru tossed it to the shore, listening to its wet _flop_ on the stone. “But it was nice.”

He started up another fire—it was easier this time—and roasted the fish, and nothing tasted as good as that mackerel at that moment. Haru slumped back against the stone, eating the fish slowly even though he wanted to devour it. It warmed his insides, and though it didn’t fill him, he was satisfied enough to feel the fish’s skin crunch between his teeth.

 _Crispy_.

He tossed the bones into the water and lay on his back, clutching the sapphire around his neck.

 

Haru didn’t know that Makoto could pick him up. It made sense, he supposed, because his friend was stronger, but it was still weird being carried to the bathroom.

“I can undress myself,” Haru mumbled, when Makoto sat him on the tub’s edge.

Makoto was nice enough to turn his back as he peeled off his clothes, even though they’d seen each other naked countless times in the locker room. It wasn’t until Haru lowered himself into the hot bath that Makoto bustled around the bathroom, gathering the pile of wet clothes to wring them out and hang in the shower.

“What happened?” Makoto asked, sounding less frazzled this time.

Haru replied with a non-committal “Hmm.”

He’d been leaving the house before dawn so none of his neighbors saw, so Makoto didn’t spy his departure from his bedroom window. Perhaps he’d seen, anyway—perhaps he’d remained silent, allowing Haru his secrets. He dunked underwater, though couldn’t hold his breath long. He came back up with a gasp, eyes wide open as he remembered.

 

* * *

 

He had to swim the tunnel. He’d rested, he’d eaten more fish, and he hadn’t found another exit. Haru stood on the rock, scanning the water until he found the underwater tunnel. He could do it. He _had_ to.

At his feet were his spare goggles and the hair elastic, a few wayward strands of red hair still clinging to them. He smiled, turning back to the water, and then dived.

It wasn’t a true crawl. Haru kept his head above water, conserving his breath until the last possible moment. It felt strange and unnatural, but he swam like that anyway, because it was the only way he could get out. He breathed in deep, filling his lungs to capacity, and then dived down.

Gratefully, he found the tunnel on the first try. He tried not to think about the distance, or his inability to breathe—he focused on swimming, pushing himself to swim faster but not tire himself out. All his years of swimming and training were for _this_ moment, for his survival.

His chest was burning but he kept going, kicking harder, pushing his arms forward. _This would be easier if I had a tail_ , he thought, suddenly over-conscious of his legs and his feet. He remembered the way Rin swam, so easily underwater, with his ability to breathe.

Bubbles escaped from his lips but he clamped his mouth shut again. He wasn’t burning with exertion; he was burning because he couldn’t _breathe_ , because he was swimming his hardest without taking in any oxygen.

The tunnel was dark. He didn’t remember it being so dark, or so long . . . he was slowing down; he was searching for the end . . .

Someone was approaching. _Rin?_ he thought, but no, not Rin. He squinted, but couldn’t see anything as they passed, just the flowing red hair, the whip of a red tail . . .

The arms around his waist felt really good. The shoulder he rest his head on was not as muscular as he remembered, and the hair flowed around his body, and a voice spoke to him distantly.

“It’s okay, Haru. I’ll get you out of here.”

He couldn’t speak. He could only close his eyes as the arms tightened around him, as he saw the red haze of the sun behind his eyelids, as a muscular tail thrashed and pushed to get them to the surface . . .

 

Makoto sat on the floor beside the tub. The bathwater smelled faintly of the ocean. He was watching Haru, who didn’t move, who could only stare at the wall as everything came back to him. His chest was heaving, remembering how good it felt to fill his lungs. Makoto fetched him a glass of water from the kitchen, and he downed it in one gulp. His hands had stopped shaking, at least, and his skin was soothed by the hot water. He leaned back, aware of how intently Makoto stared at him, as he watched the ripples in the tub fade.

“You won’t believe me,” Haru said, as he began.

 

Makoto stayed to make dinner. He thought it was strange that Haru requested mackerel—they’d never eaten mackerel a day in their lives—and the fish wasn’t available at the market, but Haru was satisfied enough with squid. Makoto wasn’t a good cook, but that night Haru preferred his attempts over making anything himself.

Makoto didn’t speak until the food was in front of them, until Haru was inhaling the over-salted squid. He’d eaten nothing since his makeshift meal of mackerel in the volcano.

“So . . .” Makoto pushed rice around his place, “he’s a . . . merman?”

Haru looked away as he chewed.

“I— I didn’t say I didn’t believe you!”

He’d told Makoto everything. _Most_ everything—he’d conveniently left out the hand job.

As Haru ate his squid, he realized he could still taste Rin’s kisses. Just as he could feel the pulse of his groin, yearning for those hands again. After his bath Makoto had handed him the silver necklace, the tangible proof of Rin’s existence. Now, Haru wore the sapphire again, touching it as he ate, remembering how Rin wore it himself.

“Wait here,” Haru said. Makoto watched as he dashed upstairs, taking no time in locating the gold armband on his desk. Makoto was still turned toward the staircase when he returned and set it on the kitchen table.

“This is his, too?” he asked, carefully touching the band.

“First place in the North Pacific Reef races,” Haru replied. He picked it off the table, expertly locking it onto his arm. “He calls me ‘human boyfriend'.”

“That’s kind of cute.” Makoto chuckled. “But . . . are you? I mean . . . dating?”

He looked down at his plate. Squid, at least, didn’t resemble Rin at all. He closed his eyes as he chewed, then swallowed, another mouthful of salty fish. He rubbed the band around his arm. “Yes.”

_I’m dating a merman._

“Then . . .” Makoto smiled. “I’d like to meet him.”

Makoto was trusting to a fault, not that Haru had ever given him a reason not to be. That simple request sparked hope. He’d told him about Sousuke and the hard, angry look in his eye. He’d told him how Rin had been whisked away without explanation, without a chance to say goodbye. But still, Makoto wanted to meet him. Makoto was assuring him there would be an opportunity that he could.

“But how did you get out of the tunnel?”

Haru shook his head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.”

 

* * *

 

The next Saturday, they went to the beach together.

Haru had reminded him there was a chance Rin wouldn’t be there. But it was no mere “chance.” Haru was convinced he wouldn’t be there at all, but Makoto wanted to try. They slowly swam together to the inactive volcano. The closer they swam, the more Makoto looked up in wonder.

“You were in _there_?” he asked.

“Yeah. It was nice.”

Haru wondered if his gifts were still inside. He’d left Rin’s jewelry at home, not wanting to risk running into Sousuke and having him take them back.

They swam around the volcano, to the spot where Haru first met Rin. He pointed out the rock that had been their finish line, the one Rin liked to lounge on in the sun. They dipped underwater and Haru tried to point out where he thought North Pacific Reef was, and Makoto claimed he’d seen someone swimming around the area.

“Could’ve just been a big fish,” he said with a shrug.

They spent the afternoon in the ocean. They raced to the rock and back, not paying attention to who won each time (It was Haru), and would sometimes stick their faces underwater, looking for traces of mermaids. They swam around the volcano, and then they talked more, and little by little Makoto got the whole story. Including—Haru was reluctant to admit—the more intimate parts.

Makoto frowned. “Is that . . . safe?”

“It’s just a hand job.”

“Y-You know what I mean!”

Rin didn’t come that day. Nor did he come the next weekend, when they visited again. Makoto insisted on going to the ocean after school, too, even though Haru knew he wouldn’t be there. Rin showed up in the early morning, he said, the only times Haru had been there before.

Haru had hung the necklace and the armband in his room, and would take them down sometimes to wear them. The necklace was easier to hide under his clothes if he went out, but he always kept the armband at home. After a month, the impression of Rin on his body hadn’t faded. When Haru dipped under the bathwater, sliding a hand between his legs, it didn’t feel right. He needed Rin’s body beside him. He needed the slick feel of his tail, his mouth on his neck. He was empty without that constant laughter and the smile that rivaled any precious gemstone. Haru dunked underwater, and the sapphire floated to the surface. He stared at the underside of the gem, at the light that filtered through it, as he touched the cool metal on his arm.

But every Saturday morning, he still went to the ocean.

Makoto never stopped believing him, but Haru was beginning to doubt his authenticity himself. It _had_ really happened, hadn’t it? Rin was real, and so was North Pacific Reef. He had the proof. So after school one day, rather than go home with Makoto as usual, he made up an excuse to walk alone and took a train into the city.

 _I’ll see Rin again_ , he thought, feeling for the necklace under his shirt. He removed his school tie, unbuttoning the collar as he watched Iwatobi sweep by from the train. He didn’t make it a habit of going into the city alone, and he knew Makoto would’ve liked to come along for his preparations. But Haru wanted to go by himself.

He went to the sporting goods store first, investing in a water-resistant bag.

“If I put this underwater,” Haru said, holding the bag close to a employee’s face, “it won’t leak?”

The girl flashed a wide, nervous smile, backing away from the bag. “Absolutely!”

“Even in the ocean?”

“S-sure!”

He went to the pharmacy for hair elastics. (He needed more than the one stolen from Makoto’s sister.) He bought some dried snacks, too, wanting to share something he liked to eat with Rin, and some sports drinks, for when he got thirsty.

Haru paused in front of the “family planning” aisle.

Other patrons side-stepped him as he held his basket in the crook of his arm, which was filled with snacks and drinks and those silly hair elastics. Someone accidentally bumped into him, apologizing as he scurried off, but Haru hardly noticed him. He sidestepped into the aisle and came face-to-face with the condoms.

“Too many options,” he muttered, his eyes glazing over the display. Too many sizes and varieties and flavors; some had ridges for “her pleasure” ( _Don’t need that_ , he thought), some were naturally lubricated. And did he need _extra-large_? He glanced at the front of his slacks, like it would provide an answer. He picked up a box, his fingers shaking slightly.

 _I want to have sex_ , he thought, reading the side of the box, _with a fish._

 _“I’m not a fish!”_ he heard Rin cry in his head.

_How big is he?_

_Or would I top?_

_Where would I put it?_

“Can I help you?”

Haru jumped, dropping the box of condoms to the floor, as the employee grinned at him. “N-no,” Haru said, flushing a deep red as he turned away. Then he turned the other way, when he realized he was staring at the condom display. “Just looking.”

The boy eyed him for a second, nodding like he understood, and quietly slipped away. Haru picked the box off the floor and hid it under the snacks in his basket. When he checked out, the same boy was at the register, and Haru stared at an advertisement on the wall as he rung up his purchases—painstakingly slowly, each individual item at a time, and Haru would swear that he paused before dropping the condoms into the bag.

“Come again!” the boy said, handing him the bag over the counter, and Haru wished he’d chosen a different phrase.

 _I want to have sex with a fish_.

_“I’m a merman!”_

* * *

 

Haru packed his water-resistant bag for the next Saturday. He left the condoms at home, hidden in the desk drawer, because he wouldn’t need them as long as Makoto was going out to the ocean with him.

He’d tested the bag in the bathtub, and it worked all right. There was a little water at the bottom, but if he wanted to put anything delicate in there—food or books, mostly—he’d wrap them in a plastic bag first. But he didn’t need all that right now. He threw in some bottled water and dried fruit, and he and Makoto tread out for the ocean. Again.

The bag slung around his back didn’t slow down his swimming. It was ritual now, going around that volcano, wondering if anyone had been inside since he’d visited. They went out to Rin’s perch, climbing on top and swinging their legs in the water as they ate dried fruit from the bag.

“Even if Rin can’t come back,” Makoto said, reaching for a pineapple ring, “this has been really nice.”

Haru had worn the sapphire that day. It felt heavy on his neck, wet and now warm from the sun. He nodded. “Yeah.”

The waved lapped their legs and Makoto looked down into the ocean, like he was still searching for the merman. Haru lay back on the rock, closed his eyes, and listened. He didn’t have to look—he still remembered the sound of Rin swimming, the flap of his tail on the water as they raced. He remembered the distant music of his approach, swimming up from deep in the water.

He sat bolt upright. “Makoto!”

Makoto hadn’t heard. He wasn’t used to the sound; he didn’t know what to listen for. Haru leaned forward, gripping the edge of the rock between his legs, frantically searching the water.

“Haru? What is it? Is he here?”

Makoto leaped backward, nearly tumbling off the perch, when a body propelled upward from the sea, the human torso followed by the shimmering red tail. It fell back to the water with a _splash_ , and a high-pitched giggle followed.

“I’ve always wanted to do that!”

“Haru,” Makoto said warily, tugging on his arm, “that’s a _girl_.”

She _looked_ like Rin. The mermaid ducked underwater again, swimming closer to their perch and pushing her hair back as she came up. “Haru!” she said with a grin, the same sharp-toothed grin as Rin. She looked at Makoto. “And you brought a friend!” She inched closer, staring at Makoto as she reached up to touch his arm. He was rooted to his spot, staring wide-eyed as she traced his biceps. “He’s _cute_.”

“Who are you?” Haru asked.

“I’m not surprised you don’t remember.” She pulled herself up, squeezing between Haru and Makoto though there was little space for a body to fit. Makoto moved over as far as he could, sitting on the edge of the rock as he hugged Haru’s bag. The water beaded like diamonds on her skin, sparkling under the sunlight as she shook out her hair. “I took you out of the tunnel! I’m Gou, Rin’s little sister. He sent me to help you!”

“You . . . saved me,” Haru marveled.

Gou was gorgeous, a different sort of beauty than her brother. Her eyes were wide with long lashes, her cheekbones high and pronounced like Rin’s, but more delicate. When she sat up, her long hair pooled in her lap and onto the rock. It covered her small breasts, which Haru was grateful for because she wasn’t wearing anything on top. _He_ wouldn’t have cared, but Makoto was still looking at the mermaid in fear.

“This is my best friend,” Haru said, motioning to the frozen boy beside her, “Makoto.”

She turned to him, all smiles, and Haru caught Makoto glancing at her chest as her hair swept around her. “Good to meet you! Big brother will be _so_ mad that I met his human boyfriend’s friend before he did.”

“Is Rin coming?” Haru asked.

The answer should’ve been obvious, but he knew for sure now, when the smile fell from her face. Gou twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “Sousuke is still following him around. He hasn’t been able to get out of North Pacific Reef _at all_.”

Haru swallowed hard. “What happened?”

“Ooh, Sousuke was _angry_ ,” she said. “He’s been training for the patrol, you see, and he said Rin was acting weird at school that day, so when he didn’t come back for a long time decided to go find my brother. Rin has been _trying_ to explain that humans aren’t evil, but Sousuke is so stubborn.”

“But you believe him,” Haru said, “right?”

“Yes! Big brother is so in love with you, it’s nauseating. If I don’t help get you together again, I’m never going to hear the end of how wonderful his human boyfriend is.” She hugged Haru’s arm and kissed his cheek, but he was still blanching from the word “love.” _Love?_ “That’s from Rin. Oh!” Gou caught the sparkle of the gemstone on his chest. “You’re wearing his necklace! He’ll be so happy. I got your presents out from the volcano for him. He wears them all the time, though lies to Sousuke and says he just found them. But I steal the hair elastic sometimes. It’s so _smart_.”

“Here.” Haru reached across her to take his bag from Makoto—her hair brushed his arm when she leaned over in curiosity, so much like Rin—then dug through it for the ring of hair ties. “You can share them.”

Gou tore open the package right away, taking one elastic and wrapping her hair into a high ponytail. The hair slipped off her chest like silk, exposing her small, perky breasts as she swung the ponytail over he shoulder. Makoto stared over her head, past the horizon, clamping his jaw shut and sweating profusely.

“Let’s get in the water,” Haru said, jumping in before the others replied. Thankfully, Makoto calmed down a little once they were all submerged to their necks.

“Come back tonight,” Gou said, turning to Haru. “I’ll tell big brother to sneak out when everyone’s asleep. But he can’t stay long, because we have school tomorrow.”

“Me too,” Haru replied.

“Great! Oh, Haru. He really wants to see you. I hate seeing him sad. Do you still have his gold armband?”

“Of course,” Haru replied, somewhat offended.

She grinned. “I’ll let him know. I’ve gotta go! Come back tonight, remember!”

Gou hugged them both, kissing each on the cheek before disappearing, her hair tied back tight and a collection of hair elastics up her arm. Makoto let out a long, low breath.

“Are you okay?” Haru asked, turning to him.

He nodded. “I-Is Rin that beautiful, too?”

He turned back to the water, like he could still see the mermaid. She was long gone, swimming deep into the ocean, but they could still feel the aftershock of her splash. Haru grasped the necklace, running his thumb over the sapphire. “He’s more.”

 

Makoto returned with him that night, but promised not to stay long. “I only want to meet him,” he said, “and then I’ll leave you alone.”

Haru packed everything into his water-repellent bag— _everything_. He wrapped the food in plastic bags and double-wrapped the cardboard box of condoms. He shoved it deep into his bag, in case Makoto went through it.

Haru would’ve preferred to travel alone when they left at midnight, but was glad for the company the closer they got to the beach. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so nervous—he shoved his hands into his pockets to stop them from shaking, and he was over-conscious of the way he walked because his legs felt like liquid. As they climbed the rock to get to the deserted beach, Makoto helped hoist him up and over it. He grumbled a “thanks” as they plopped down to the sand.

“Haru!”

Before he even stood upright, he heard the excited whisper of his name from the ocean.

Makoto’s voice echoed it. “Haru! Is that him?”

He couldn’t move. Rin was _right there_. He was lounging on the shoreline, the water lapping his tail, which impatiently flapped as he sat up straight. Rin pressed both hands over his mouth, his tears glittering in the moonlight. He was wearing the gold armband, just as Haru was, and the ruby that matched the sapphire around Haru’s neck. He hadn’t pulled his hair back, but Haru was glad for it—it looked beautiful around his shoulders, damp with water, the deep red locks framing his face.

“Rin!”

He found his footing again, his heart was filled to bursting, and he _moved_ , he _ran_ , tripping over the sand in his sneakers and tumbling toward the merman, crawling toward him and collapsing into Rin’s open arms. Rin kissed his face everywhere, smothering his cheeks and his lips with wet, salty kisses.

“Human boyfriend!” He giggled, crying harder, holding Haru’s cheeks too tight as he kissed his lips again. Then he peered over Haru’s shoulder. “Is this Makoto?”

Makoto eased himself down, sitting cross-legged in the wet sand, staring at Rin. His gaze swept his body, from the top of his human-like head down to the ends of his fins, settling on the hands that held tight to Haru’s.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rin.”

“Oh, Haru.” Rin had started to cry again. “Your human best friend is so nice.”

“I—” Makoto waved his hands in front of him. “I didn’t mean to make you cry! I’m sorry!”

“Oh, Makoto!” Rin threw himself around him, holding tight to Makoto, dripping water down the back of his dry shirt. Makoto froze but then patted his back, desperately looking at Haru.

But Haru only laughed, a barely audible sound. “He can’t stay,” Haru said. “He just wanted to meet you.”

“I’m so happy.” Rin rubbed his tear-stained face on Makoto’s shoulder. “So happy.”

As promised, Makoto didn’t stay long. Rin kissed his cheeks before he stood, waving goodbye and making him promise to visit again. Makoto brushed the sand off his jeans and vowed he would, but told Rin that now he should treasure the brief time they had together.

“He’s so nice,” Rin said, staring at their entwined hands, and Haru kissed his forehead.

“What are you doing out here?” Haru asked. “You could be seen.”

“I wanted to see you,” he replied, lifting his head. He glanced down at Haru’s body. “And I got to see you walk _and_ wear clothes.”

“Idiot.” Haru smiled. “Let’s swim.”

Haru held to Rin as they sped out toward the volcano. He explained that Gou was keeping watch at the reef, in case anyone went looking for him.

“Everyone should be sleeping, though,” he explained, “so we have a little while.”

Haru held around the merman’s shoulders, looking up at the moon as they sped around the volcano. Rin was a little nervous about bringing him back inside but Haru assured him it was fine, and that he’d wait for Gou if anything bad happened again.

“I like your sister,” he said, and Rin grinned over his shoulder.

“I like your human best friend.”

Haru braced himself before they dipped underwater. Rin waited until he breathed in deep before zipping down to the underwater tunnel. Haru could tell that Rin was pushing himself—his tail swung madly, his arms out in front of him, and he thought he was mimicking Haru’s front crawl. What would it be like, combining the human’s fastest stroke with the merman’s natural talent? How fast could they swim, together, if they molded into one being?

Haru watched the tunnel pass. It was dark, and there wasn’t much to it, but he hadn’t been able to fully see it before. Rin had enough space to spread his arms out, and Haru could hear him laughing as he swam. He nuzzled Rin’s neck, keeping his breath in, wondering how long it was before he could breathe again.

When they broke the surface Haru took a deep gulp of air, pleased with himself for not passing out this time. After he tossed his bag to the shore Rin loosely held him, waiting for him to get his breath back, even though Haru assured him that he was fine.

“Were you swimming free?” Haru asked.

“A little!” Rin smiled. “The arm movements really help me swim faster.”

It was dark in the volcano’s interior. Rin had impeccable night vision, but it took Haru a moment to adjust. The moon didn’t infiltrate the mouth of the volcano, but the stars were bright and cloudless overhead. Haru floated on his back to stare at them and Rin joined him, looping his tail around one of Haru’s legs. Haru reached out to hold his hand.

“Forgive me, Haru,” Rin said, squeezing his hand.

Haru shook his head, the water splashing softly around him. “Don’t. It wasn’t your fault. I don’t want to talk about it now.”

Rin snaked an arm across his chest, feeling his muscles and tugging on the fabric of his jammers. Without having to ask, Haru peeled off his swimsuit and tossed it to the nearby rock.

“Rin,” he said, as Rin’s hands traced his thighs, “do you get aroused?”

“You’re so blunt, human boyfriend.” Rin kissed his neck, smiling when he felt Haru already getting hard. “Not as easily as you do.”

Haru scowled. “Shut up.”

“My body is designed for procreation. If there’s no woman present, it . . . doesn’t want to come out.”

Haru couldn’t help but smile. Though Rin was teasing him, stroking him slowly and gently, he ran a hand over Rin’s tail to feel for the bulge that wasn’t there. “Where is it?”

Rin guided his hand down farther, shuddering slightly when it slid over the spot. “There.” He watched as Rin tilted his head back, eyes wide with the light of the stars, as Haru rubbed his tail. “We don’t have a lot of time,” Haru whispered. He lightly sucked on Rin’s earlobe.

Rin let out a deep, throaty laugh. “Is that a challenge, human boyfriend?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ([Here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/94071079658) on tumblr.)


	5. Chapter 5

There wasn’t enough time. Certainly not enough time for all Rin wanted to do, all he wanted to experience with Haru before the night came to an end. The water was cool, and the stars glittered over the mouth of the volcano, and the human boy was stroking his tail and wanting so much to make him feel good. He’d been so happy to see Haru wearing his necklace, and now they were so close that he could feel both the gemstones at once, the one he was wearing and the blue one around Haru’s neck.

Rin held his arms, feeling the gold band and breathing in his distinct, land-dwelling scent. It was intoxicating, the smell of fresh air and earth that clung to him, scents Haru didn’t know he carried. And something overwhelmingly chemical that Rin smelled every time he buried his nose in Haru’s hair.

“What is that scent?” he asked, as Haru’s hand wound around him. Rin arched his back, rubbing his tail against Haru’s thigh.

“Hmm?”

“It smells . . . dangerous. Like chemicals.”

“Chlorine,” Haru replied, between lightly sucking Rin’s neck. “Keeps the pool clean.”

He didn’t get it. But Rin added it to the list of things he wanted to know, things he would ask later, when Haru wasn’t trying so hard to— _“Oh.”_

Haru felt it, too, the moment Rin was aroused, the slight swelling of his tail. Haru leaned closer, the blue stone shining on his chest as Rin whimpered, pressing his face to Haru’s neck.

Haru paused. “Rin, are you okay?”

He wrapped his tail around Haru’s legs and hitched his tail against his body. His human skin felt so _good_ , so smooth against his scales and the growing arousal. Rin nodded, and Haru slowly began to stroke him again.

 _We’re the same_ , he thought, as Haru carefully held his penis, pumping slowly like he’d never handled one before. “It’s okay,” Rin whispered, sliding his tongue over the curve of his ear. “We’re the same. You won’t hurt me.”

He didn’t believe arousal was possible by mere touch alone, but his body shuddered under Haru’s fingers, by his mouth on his throat. Everything he’d known to be true was a lie—the lie of arousal, the lie of his body’s creation for merely procreation. It was responding to this boy, to this _human_ , and Rin wanted more of it, he wanted all of it.

He lifted Haru’s chin with two fingers and met his lips, trembling with every inch of Haru that touched him, his mouth and his hands and the exposed skin that he no longer hid under his swimming outfit. He whined when Haru stopped kissing him, but then his mouth was on Rin’s throat again, and then his chest, playing with the red gemstone as he kissed his way down to the waterline. Rin flicked his tail against Haru’s backside, smiling when his human boyfriend shuddered at the fin between his thighs.

 _I want to mate with a human_ , he thought, as Haru wrapped a leg around him, his hands still working at his arousal. He felt Haru hard against him, too, and Rin pulled them closer, rubbing Haru’s erection with his own.

“Rin . . . hng . . .”

He was making funny noises. But he was so pretty under the moonlight, with the water beading on his skin and the way he tilted his head back as he enjoyed himself. The blue gemstone sparkled, so much like his eyes and so perfect on his skin. Rin kissed the bridge of his nose, hoping it would make him smile, and it did. Such a small smile, on such a small mouth; everything about Haru was perfect and pretty, and Rin started to cry.

“Rin?” He’d felt the merman’s shoulders tremble. “Are you okay?”

“Just happy,” he whispered, pressing their hips together again. “So happy.”

He wondered if Haru felt the same when he was close to release. How his body seemed to tense, wanting to feel every inch of him as he . . . what had Haru called it? Come? _Humans have funny words_ , he thought, closing his eyes as his body trembled, digging his nails into Haru’s back as he sighed, feeling the final jolt of his release.

He was warm and cool at the same time, his body limp with delight and exhaustion. But Haru wasn’t done yet, still grinding against him, and Rin simply watched. The way the muscles in his arms bulged as he held on, how his dark, dark hair covered his eyes. Rin pushed the hair from his face and Haru looked up, his eyes so wide and blue, the pained expression in being so close.

Rin’s voice was barely a whisper. “Haru. My human boyfriend.”

Haru made that little whimpering sound again and Rin knew it had been the right thing to say, that _that_ had been what Haru needed, clutching him even tighter as he came.

Rin wanted to do it again. He was fascinated that he _could_ , that it was this boy his body responded to, nothing at all like a mermaid. He felt good— _amazing_ —but he wanted more to watch Haru again, to see how exposed he could be and so trusting as they learned even more about the other’s body. But he was tired, and Haru was tired; he held Haru to his chest, kissing his forehead as Haru caught his breath.

Rin was never short on words. But what could he say now? _Thank you? You feel really good. I love to be close to you_. Nothing felt right, but maybe he didn’t have to say anything. Haru wasn’t saying anything, and Rin still understood what he felt. Haru was holding him now, too, resting his head on his shoulder, and even though Rin couldn’t see his face he knew he was smiling. He touched the armband Haru wore, marveling still how it belonging on the land now. With Haru.

“Why do we speak the same language?” Haru asked suddenly.

Rin brushed the hair from Haru’s forehead. “I already told you.”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

So Rin told the story again, and in more detail—when the world began, it was only a land of water. Merpeople lived freely over all the seas, visiting the surface more often than they did now.

But then the water receded, and land emerged, and merpeople developed legs to live on the surface. Some remained in the seas, and the two races lived together comfortably. The land-dwellers introduced new meats and fruits to the sea-dwellers, and the merpeople supplied them with the fish they could no longer obtain from deep within the sea.

“But after many years, the land-dwellers began to hunt the merpeople,” Rin said, looking away. He stared at the vines crawling up to the mouth of the volcano, desperate to be free of their dark, damp home. “The sea-dwellers developed the reefs even deeper in the ocean, far away from humans, and then . . .” Rin sighed, letting go of Haru and aimlessly swimming around him instead. “Our common language is an old tradition. All lands began in the sea. But we grew apart, and there are things that became different. That’s why you use so many funny words to me. I don’t know anything about human culture.”

Haru glided up to him, holding the end of his tail so he’d stop swimming around. Rin twitched, but didn’t shake him off. “You go to school.”

Rin nodded. “We have Human Studies, but they’re wrong. They teach that humans are ugly and short because they want to be closer to the water, and the land-dwelling air has dried their skin. But”—he rested a hand on Haru’s smooth cheek—“that’s not true at all.”

Rin hadn’t noticed he’d started to cry again until Haru kissed him. _Humans are beautiful_ , he thought, running his fingers through Haru’s hair. _They’re intelligent and pretty and not short._

“What are the other old traditions?” Haru asked.

“Hmm? Oh, there are a lot.” He flicked his tail around Haru again. “But I don’t want to talk anymore. I want to kiss you.”

They pulled up onto a rock because Haru wanted to kiss his tail. He was always so careful with it, and now he was kissing it, from his stomach all the way down, lightly sucking on the ends of his fin. Rin lay back, arms spread out on the rock, feeling the cold air on his damp skin and Haru’s tongue on his scales.

“Does it taste funny?” Rin asked, peering down at him.

Haru shook his head. He kissed him again, and the gemstone around his neck dragged across Rin’s tail. He twitched under Haru’s touch and the stone’s cool surface.

He wanted to make Haru mackerel before he left. Rin didn’t want to leave Haru for even a moment but he did, diving under the water to gather fish for them both. Haru prepared the fire for his, and Rin sat beside him to eat his uncooked portion, and it was almost better than the touches and the excitement he’d felt underwater. He wound his tail around Haru’s backside, providing something for him to lean back against, as they talked and ate. Haru took some human food from his bag, too, things he called dried fruit and nuts, and they tasted pretty good. The fruit was really sweet, which Rin usually didn’t like, but he ate it because Haru brought it for him. It was the best thing in the world.

“I like these peanuts,” Rin said, holding one between his fingers. “They’re crispy!”

“Crunchy,” Haru said, but Rin ignored the correction.

Rin talked about his dad. How his father was a great swimmer, four-time champion of the North Pacific Reef races. How he was a great hunter for the reef, going out into open water to gather food for them. Haru listened intently, savoring his mackerel, touching Rin’s tail or his stomach when he’d pause and trail off. Rin would respond with his own touches, the slight brush of his fingertips to Haru’s bare thigh or his jaw, or lightly kissing him in the middle of his stories.

“Did humans kill him?” Haru asked, as Rin was nipping his neck.

Rin sat back with a heavy sigh. He tossed his mackerel bones into the ocean, then leaned back on his hands. Haru hugged Rin’s tail in his lap. “Yeah. That’s what Mom says.”

“You don’t believe it.” It wasn’t a question.

“No!” He shook his head, his damp hair spraying water droplets. “Dad wouldn’t let something stupid happen like that.”

“But that’s why Sousuke doesn’t like me.”

Rin looked down at his own tail lying across Haru’s lap. “Yeah.”

Haru leaned up to kiss him, and then turned to extinguish the fire. He cupped dirt in his hands to toss over the flames; they sizzled and faded, leaving them in darkness. Rin reached for the water to help but Haru grabbed him instead, pulling him down to the ground, rolling them away from the still-hot embers. Haru lay on his back, looking up at Rin as he spead his thighs and the merman wiggled between them. Rin inched upward, pressing his tail between Haru’s legs as he came down for a kiss.

 _Mating must be different on land_ , he thought, as Haru’s hand wandered down his back. Haru pulled him closer as they kissed. Rin opened his eyes a little, not too much in case he noticed. He caught the flutter of Haru’s lashes as they kissed, and the slow work of his jaw. He closed his eyes again and focused on Haru’s hands, on his hips, on his legs that wrapped around him.

 _Sousuke is wrong_ , he thought, as he kissed Haru again, amused by how much he smelled like the sea now. Between their swimming and their mackerel he _tasted_ like the sea, and it seemed more like him. Like he _belonged_ there, with him.

Rin jerked his head away, accidentally scraping Haru’s lip with his teeth, as he started to cry again. “I hate this!” He hated more how his voice cracked, high and shrill over the volcano’s walls. “I want you to stay, Haru! I want my best friend to like you and I want to you meet my mom and I don’t want you to go back to the land! You don’t belong on the land!”

“Rin . . .”

He turned away, sobbing now, curling into himself and hiding his face in the crook of his arm. He gripped tight to his necklace, the tiny prongs digging into his palm. He didn’t know what Haru was doing—if he was doing anything besides just staring at him—but then he was stroking his back, and Rin hated more how good it felt.

“I’d stay if I could.”

Rin hiccupped.

“I want to meet your mom and your friends. I want to . . . live in the ocean.”

Rin peered over his shoulder, but Haru wasn’t looking at him. There was a tightness in his throat again when he noticed Haru’s lip was bleeding. It trickled down his chin, and sometimes he’d suck on the wound, but it was almost like he didn’t even notice.

Silently, Haru reached for his bag. Rin leaned toward it, watching as he rummaged through a bunch of smaller bags inside. He took out some more fruits, and bottles of weird-colored liquid, until he pulled a small box out from the bottom. But Haru was nervous now, not looking at Rin or the box but at the remains of their fire instead.

“What is that?” When Rin pried the small box from his hands, Haru didn’t stop him. He couldn’t read many of the words, and those he recognized didn’t make sense all together— _Longer. Protection. Pleasure._

“Haru . . . d-do you think you need protection from me?”

“Not like that.” He took the box back, slowly ripping open the side to take something out. It was _another_ tiny package—a package inside a box—and Rin wondered why humans always had to make everything so complicated. He turned the small square in his hands, like he’d never seen one before, before tearing it open.

“This”—Haru slid out a small, circular item—“helps with having sex.”

Rin scrunched his nose.

“. . . Making love.”

Rin leaned forward again, squinting as he stared at it. “What’s it do?”

Haru looked really weird about explaining it. It wasn’t until he fully explained its function— _protection_ , but not the kind Rin had thought—that Rin understood _why_. It was a common human thing, this condom, and weird to talk about because of where you had to put it. Or, that’s what he gathered.

“I have to go soon,” Haru said, but Rin was taking the unwrapped condom from his hands. It was a little slimy, and Rin rubbed the weird moisture between his fingers. He stared at the tiny piece of rubber and then at Haru’s lap, frowning. _How does it fit?_

Then Haru turned away and laughed.

“What’s so funny?!”

But Haru was still laughing. He collapsed to the ground, hiding his face in the crook of his arm, and Rin couldn’t stay mad because now he could see his gluteus without his jammers on and it was _really cute_. When Rin touched it, Haru squirmed and laughed harder.

“Stop poking my butt,” Haru said, as Rin touched it again.

“I like your butt.”

He trailed his fingers up Haru’s side, and Haru’s laughter faded to soft giggles. Rin lay beside him so they faced each other. Haru slung one leg around his hip, sliding closer until their chests touched.

Rin kissed the tip of his nose. “Do you want to mate with me?”

Haru stroked his tail, which rested between his legs, feeling farther down Rin’s backside. Rin slung his tail up and tickled beneath Haru’s arm, loving the way he squirmed.

“You’re a fish,” Haru replied.

“I am not a—”

“Shut up.” Haru clamped a hand over Rin’s mouth. “ _That_ ”—he looked down at Rin’s tail—“is fish.”

But then Rin was sitting bolt upright. He frantically scanned the water, certain he’d heard the distinct splash of underwater swimming. Haru hadn’t noticed at first, but the sound grew louder. It echoed over the volcano’s walls, magnifying it, and Haru quickly crawled behind a protruding rock. Rin watched him, his chin trembling, but could do nothing to help the pale human boy who tried hiding behind a bush. He whipped around when someone popped up out of the water.

“It’s just Gou!” Rin cried. Haru released an audible sigh of relief.

Gou splashed him. “Brother, you have to come back! Everyone’s waking up.”

Rin looked up. The sky was no longer pitch-dark; he couldn’t see the stars anymore, and there was a faint orange glow of morning. Haru peeked out from his hiding place. “Hello, Gou.”

“Haru!” She pulled herself up onto the rock, tossing her long, red hair over her shoulder. She’d pulled back half of it into a high ponytail, leaving a short fringe over her forehead. “How is your human friend with the muscles?”

“Fine.”

She grinned, then turned to Rin. “Let’s go, big brother.”

Gou was nice enough not to look as Haru dressed, and then he packed his bag and climbed onto Rin’s back. “This would be easier if I were a fish,” Haru said, squeezing his legs around Rin’s waist.

“I wouldn’t know,” Rin replied. “I’m not a fish.”

Haru was getting better at going through the tunnel. But that didn’t meant it was any easier when they got out, even when he could breathe again. Gou waited, somewhat impatiently, as they said goodbye; Rin murmured so Gou wouldn’t hear and Haru kept on kissing him, and they didn’t let go until the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon.

They watched Haru swim to shore. Rin wouldn’t leave until he stepped onto the sand, a little shaky as picked up his clothes. Gou had already ducked underwater, and Rin was reluctant to follow.

“I am in love with him, Gou,” he said, as they swam home.

“Yes, you’ve mentioned that.” She swished her tail so it bumped his. “Did you tell him?”

“No.”

Gou rolled her eyes. “Idiot.”

North Pacific Reef was bustling with the early-morning crowd when they returned. The patrol was manning the entrance, and they nodded in acknowledgement as they passed. They didn’t mind too much when merpeople went in and out, as long as they didn’t bring anything with them.

Rin knew it would be hard to stay awake during school, but it was worth it. He was filled to bursting; he had to tell _someone_ about his night, but Gou was his only confidant, and he refused to tell her the more intimate details. His tail pulsed again with the memory, needing to feel Haru’s touches. Needing to feel _all_ of him, to touch his smooth skin and smell his earthy scent. Rin sighed as they turned into the Matsuoka cave.

“And where have you two been?”

They both stopped short, crashing into each other lest they swim directly into their mother.

She was waiting. Arms crossed over her chest, face lifted up so she could scowl down at them. Rin didn’t even feel nervous. He felt so _warm_ , knowing he’d just come from seeing Haru, knowing Haru _existed_ even if he didn’t live under the waters. Gou fidgeted beside him but Rin couldn’t hold in his mirth.

“Mom, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Gou bumped the end of her tail into his. “Big brother!”

Their mother looked back and forth between the two, a little less callous but most definitely livid at her wayward children. “You were gone all night.”

“Mom . . .” Rin sighed, collapsing onto the wall of the cave. “I’m in love.”

Gou slumped to the ground as their mother raised an eyebrow.

He curled around himself and started at the beginning.

It was pointless to lie to their mother—she could read between the lines; she could detect even the consideration of telling a lie. She didn’t bat an eye when Rin admitted that Haru was human, nor when he said he was a boy. Then, he could speak easier. He told her how they swam together, and how he’d given Haru one of his gold armbands. She only flinched when he mentioned the situation with Sousuke, and how Rin hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye.

“How did he get home?” she asked, her icy tone betrayed by the concern in the query.

“Big brother asked me to help!” Gou piped up. “I got there just in time.”

Rin would’ve sworn she looked relieved.

But she wasn’t happy. It was seldom that their mother scolded them, but they recognized the look—she didn’t get angry like other parents; there was a quiet stillness to her anger. When Rin finally stopped talking, she didn’t say anything. The only thing she’d said through it all was asking about Haru’s safety. Now, she icily stared at them both, where they sat close curled up on the ground, as if teaming up against her. Rin’s heart pounded harder than it had when he’d spotted Haru that night, even harder than when the arousal had stirred within him.

Rin bit down on his lower lip, drawing blood. He did _not_ want to think of being aroused at that moment.

“Go to your sleepcaves,” she said. “Get some rest.”

It was her motherly way of getting rid of them until she knew what to do.

They both zipped off to their caves, not speaking, and Rin felt like he hadn’t even breathed until he slid into his space. If his mother had noticed he was wearing his gold armband, she hadn’t said anything. But that was the least of his concern. He held his arm, forcing himself to calm down, remembering how Haru was wearing the other one. How Haru had his necklace, and how Rin had his goggles. He looked up and behind him, where he’d finagled a way to attach the goggles to the wall with a hair elastic so they didn’t float away. It was innovative, he had to admit.

“Big brother?”

Rin peered up. He saw only his sister’s eyes peering over the edge of his sleepcave. “You should be sleeping,” he said.

“So should you.”

Gou wiggled into his sleepcave, despite Rin not moving over to fit her in at all. They hadn’t shared a cave since they were merchildren, back when they were able to sleep comfortably side by side. Now, she looked around at his treasure collections after not seeing it for years, at his favorite necklaces hanging on the walls and the goggles over his head. His box of jewels was in a crevasse a little farther down, so she couldn’t see it from where she lay.

“What do you want?” Rin asked, but Gou wasn’t saying anything. She snuggled against her brother, wrapping their tails together. He sighed, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder.

He thought maybe she’d say something, eventually, but then she really did fall asleep.

“Of all the . . .” Rin shifted around, trying not to wake her, realizing how tired he really was. He clutched the ruby at his chest as he nodded off.

 

* * *

 

Rin didn’t sleep for long. Gou still dozed when he woke, and he didn’t emerge from his sleepcave not because he didn’t want to wake her, but because he wasn’t sure he was allowed to.

He couldn’t hear anything from the common area. He listened for the subtle shift of water, or his mother singing to herself, but there was nothing. Rin looked down at his sister, who seemed mighty comfortable sleeping on his shoulder.

“I’m not staying in here all day,” he muttered, trying to wiggle out from beneath her. He managed to slip from his cave, removing his gold armband before swimming down into the common room.

His mom _was_ there. She sat on the floor before the stone table, doing nothing. Nothing was on the table before her, and she didn’t even pretend to be busy. Rin froze at the entryway, fearing that he’d get an earful again, but she actually smiled and motioned for him to join her.

“Gou’s still asleep?” she asked, when he settled down at the table.

“Yeah. She’s in my sleepcave.”

She nodded. “I know.”

He wasn’t sure why he’d said it. Mermom Matsuoka knew _everything_.

“Mom, I—”

“You truly love him?”

Rin looked down at his hands. They didn’t look any different than Haru’s; at least, not any different than the hands of any other merman. He touched the ruby and stared down where his skin fused to his scales. He’d never thought it was strange, but now, seeing Haru . . . he wasn’t afraid of Haru’s body. But he wasn’t sure why Haru wasn’t afraid of his.

“Haru is amazing,” he said as he looked up. “His swimming is amazing and he’s really quiet but that’s okay, because he doesn’t _have_ to talk, you know? And he’s always honest and doesn’t hold anything back and, oh mom, he’s so _pretty_ ; he has these big, blue eyes and his skin is so nice and he has these _feet_ and . . .”

He trailed off when his mother looked away. She was watching the end of her tail, which was twitching restlessly against the ground, like she wanted to get away. Like she wanted to escape.

“Mom? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

“I never thought . . .”

Rin clammed up. He ran a hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his head. His mother did the same, and he hadn’t realized he’d picked up the habit from her. She scratched the back of her neck, then combed her fingers down through her long, red hair.

She’d always been open with her children, especially after their father disappeared. _Killed_ , Rin had to remind himself, by the humans. He looked down at himself again, unable to purge the thought and feel of Haru’s hands on his tail. _Haru_ , and the way he touched Rin like he was fragile and precious. His boyfriend, his _human_ boyfriend, of that same species who took his father away.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, so quietly that he wasn’t sure he’d said it at all. “Dad—”

She flinched.

He bowed his head. “I was stupid.”

“You were not stupid, Rin Matsuoka.”

Of all the reactions, of all the thousands of things his mother could do to punish him, to keep him away from the dangerous humans . . . the last thing he expected was for his mother to be hugging him.

_“Mom?”_

_No_ , Rin decided, the last thing he’d expected was for his mother to cry on his shoulder.

“Ma? What is it?”

It was a strange situation, the merchild comforting the parent, especially a parent who’d always been so strong, and stronger still when she’d lost her mate. Rin patted her shoulder, looking around frantically, wishing both that Gou would show up and that she wouldn’t come into the room at all.

But his mother’s meltdown was brief and she rubbed her sore eyes, sitting back up at the table like she’d never cried. “Talk to your friend,” she said, and her voice didn’t even crack. Rin began to wonder if he’d imagined the brief emotional scene.

He pouted. “Sousuke doesn’t understand.”

She grabbed his hands hard, and he yelped and squirmed when her nails dug into his skin. No, he hadn’t imagined her tears—there they were, threatening to spill over again. “ _Make_ him understand.”

 

* * *

 

That was easier said than done.

While he was preoccupied with trying to figure out how to explain that humans weren’t evil, he continued meeting Haru at midnight. Nights didn’t last as long as the first—they’d tire easily, and they weren’t sleeping, and it was getting harder to make Gou stay up to keep watch.

“I’ll talk to Sousuke myself,” she’d say with a yawn.

“Don’t you dare!”

But the sleepless nights and sibling bickering was worth it when he saw Haru, when they swam for each other in the open water, embracing like they hadn’t seen each other in years and would never see each other again. Some nights they didn’t go into the volcano; if the sky was clear they’d lie on their backs in the water, and Haru would point out the shapes the stars made. _Constellations_ , he called them, though Rin knew them as mermaid mythology. What Haru called “Cassiopeia” Rin knew as Jin, a great warrior who had protected the South Pacific Reef from human predators.

“Is your history only about evil humans?” Haru asked, still staring at the sky.

Rin looked away, his fingers grazing Haru’s hand as they bobbed in the water. “Sorry.”

With all their kissing and intimacy, Rin’s favorite moments were swimming together under the moonlight. Some nights were too dark—he didn’t allow Haru to visit when the moon wasn’t visible—but when it was clear and bright, he preferred nothing more than racing Haru to the rock and back, feeling the water move around them. Haru was getting faster, he noticed. He’d been practicing, probably getting tired of losing to his merman boyfriend.

In those nights, they learned more about each other. They spoke of their friends, and their families, and what they enjoyed to do besides swimming. Haru liked little else but water, but Rin learned that he liked to draw, too. One night he brought his sketchbook to the shore, and Rin hated that he couldn’t bring it home to show his family. There were so many drawings of himself—there was Rin sunning on a rock, and there was Rin swimming, and there was a close-up of his scales. Somehow, Haru had managed to capture the way the light reflected off him, like Rin himself was the sun in the sky.

They saved their more intimate moments for when they were within the volcano, even though no one else was around in the open water. It had become more than just a place for Rin to hang out with Sousuke—it had become their little home, where he’d eat mackerel with Haru and learn even more about the human’s body. Though Haru had bought the protective rubbers, they hadn’t used them yet. Rin wanted nothing more than to mate with him, to be as close as possible, but he’d stopped asking. Haru had been right—it wasn’t something you just _do_. There had to be a right moment; it had to be special.

But Rin still liked to tease him. Where Haru could kiss Rin’s stomach down to the waterline, Rin could go down farther.

“It’s weird,” Haru would say as they kissed, when Rin began to sink underwater.

“But why?”

He’d always look away like he was embarrassed, then close his eyes as Rin’s fingers trailed down his stomach. “I want to see you.”

“But I can breathe underwater, human boyfriend.” He kissed Haru’s stomach, grinning as he looked up. “It’s _fun_.”

But his human boyfriend grew to like it. A lot. He’d sink down to his chin, as far as he could go with still being able to breathe, as Rin dipped under the water beneath him. He wrapped his body around Haru, twining around his torso and wrapping the end of his tail around his legs. He couldn’t hear Haru’s moaning, but he _felt_ the slight trembling in the water. And he still loved how quickly Haru got hard, and by such simple things—he only had to touch his butt, or the space between his legs, and Haru reacted immediately.

Oh, it _was_ fun—Haru could still be in the water, and Rin could still carefully take him into his mouth, and Rin knew how much his boyfriend enjoyed himself. He knew the human’s penis was sensitive, and that Haru cast a wary eye at Rin’s sharp teeth, but he was careful. He was _so_ careful when they kissed, and especially when he sucked on Haru’s body.

He was freer under the water—Rin held onto Haru’s butt, widening his jaw so wide that it ached as he sucked him, but it was worth it to feel Haru tremble. And when Haru gripped his shoulder, or ran his fingers through his hair, it made everything more wonderful.

Haru didn’t have to return the favor. His body still resisted the arousal sometimes, but when Haru was looking at him, and Rin saw nothing but those blue eyes, he reacted instantly. His body felt warm, and the warmth crept downward to where Haru was already rubbing the sensitive spot on his tail. Haru had kissed his tail so many times, but Rin still fidgeted like mad when he kissed him _there_ , when his arousal was wildly apparent, and he let out a whimper when Haru didn’t hesitate to go down on him.

“H-Haru, you don’t . . . isn’t it weird . . . ?”

He shook his head, refusing to come up, holding Rin’s hips as his head gently bobbed up and down.

 _Maybe he should use the protection_ , Rin thought, staring wide-eyed at him. But Haru was _enjoying_ this, tasting the salt and scales of his body. Rin wound his tail around Haru’s shoulders, which only excited him more. Haru became more fervent, more determined, as he hummed and ran his tongue over Rin’s erection.

Haru never wanted to use the protection when he did that, even when Rin said he should. At least he spit out the release—Rin did the same; he wasn’t sure if it was safe to ingest—but Haru was so adorably stubborn and felt so _good_ that Rin stopped pestering him about it.

At night, he could forget about his troubles at North Pacific Reef. He could forget that his mother silently wept when Rin spoke of his human boyfriend; he could forget that Sousuke didn’t know any of his secrets anymore. For those few hours in the dead of night, he was only a lover. He and Haru were the same, hidden away from their worlds. And Rin would drift home afterward, after countless kisses goodbye, and he always felt so warm and happy, wishing he never had to face all that was waiting for him at home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ([Here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/94655482858) on tumblr.)


	6. Chapter 6

“Haru.”

He grunted, ignoring the pencil eraser that prodded his shoulder. It was soft, though, a little like Rin’s fingertips . . .

“Haru!”

Makoto’s voice was loud, even though he was whispering. Haru’s eyelids fluttered open and he sat bolt upright, disoriented, and definitely not in his bed. He’d fallen asleep in class, sitting up at his desk.

He couldn’t know if the teacher had noticed. Haru scratched the back of his head and yawned, then picked up his pencil. The period was almost over, and he’d only completed half of his English exam.

When he closed his eyes, Makoto poked him again.

 _What’s the point?_ he thought, looking down at the incomplete page. _I’ll never leave Japan. I’ll never talk to anyone who speaks English_.

He filled it out anyway, more to save himself the trouble of a future lecture from his teacher. And from Makoto.

He’d started to lie about how often he visited Rin. But was it a _lie_ , if you didn’t actually say anything? Makoto would ask if he’d slept well, and Haru said that had, but left out the part that it had only been for four hours.

They daylight hours were tedious. He still enjoyed spending time with his friends, and school was tolerable, but at least there was still the swim club. And after making himself dinner, and doing his homework, and a two-hour nap . . . there was Rin.

Rin was magnetic. He recognized the sound of his swimming; he waited to hear the tinkling of his laughter. He was clingy, but it wasn’t annoying. Haru couldn’t understand any of it—he didn’t know why he wanted to race, or why he wanted to touch the merman so badly, or why he sacrificed his precious sleep so they could just sit together and, sometimes, not speak at all.

Despite its impossibility, he wanted Rin to visit Iwatobi. Haru never thought much of his home town—it could be any small, coastal Japanese town—but it was a part of his life that he wanted to share with Rin, a part that the merman would never understand. But more, he wanted to visit North Pacific Reef.

Even if he could scuba dive, it was too deep below the surface. Rin had tried to point it out again, and Haru thought he’d seen it—there were tiny figures swimming around what he thought was the entrance, which Rin said were the patrol. Haru silently wondered if one of them was Sousuke.

Rin rarely spoke of his friend. All he wanted to talk about was Haru, and learn about the land-dwellers. But Haru grew tired of talking about his life. He wanted to swim with Rin, and he wanted to kiss him, and he wanted to eat more mackerel than his belly could contain.

His mouth watered just from the thought of it— _mackerel_.

“Haru, are you okay? How do you think you did on the exam?”

They were walking down the hallway now. Haru didn’t really remember leaving the classroom, and vaguely wondered if he’d actually completed the exam.

“Fine.”

Then Makoto kept talking, thankfully. He was asking Haru what he put for one of the translations, because he thought he’d messed something up, but Haru’s English was even worse than his so he wasn’t sure why Makoto was even asking.

“I don’t remember,” he said plainly. That, at least, was the truth.

 

But come midnight, Haru came alive.

He’d brought different foods for the merman, and Rin had gathered things for Haru, too. They perched on a rock and traded their wares, feeding each other and waiting to see if the other enjoyed it. Rin _liked_ sushi, especially the rolls with raw fish, and Haru found Rin’s dried seaweed even better than the kind he could get on land. But always, there was mackerel. Haru had begun cooking his a little less, so it held more flavor. Rin liked that way of cooking it better than the crispy variety, even if he still preferred it raw.

“Haru.” He wiggled closer to Haru, flopping his tail across his lap as they ate. “If your human best friend didn’t like me, how would you tell him that I’m wonderful?”

Haru swallowed a bite of mackerel. “What if you weren’t wonderful?”

Rin smacked his tail down. “I’m being serious!”

It was hard to say, since Makoto had already met Rin. It took little convincing—Rin was charming and likable, and Makoto had seen first-hand how excited he’d been to see Haru. Now, he stroked Rin’s tail and stared out at the sea as he thought. Rin nuzzled to Haru’s shoulder.

But Haru . . . wasn’t like Rin. He wasn’t outwardly excited. He didn’t come off as friendly or charming. Sousuke had barely glanced at him in the seconds they’d encountered. Even then, he was too preoccupied with taking Rin away.

Rin popped his last sushi roll into his mouth and hugged Haru as he chewed. He was wearing a different ruby necklace today, Haru had noticed—it had small teardrop stones hanging from the chain at intervals, each of which glittered on Rin’s clavicle every time he moved. When Haru touched one of the stones, Rin pressed to him closer.

“I want to meet him,” Haru finally said.

Rin shook his head, rubbing his face on Haru’s shoulder. “No. Something else.”

“ _No_ , I want to meet him. Bring your sister; I don’t care.”

“Hmm. Maybe if someone else is there . . .”

Haru didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Now, he lifted Rin’s face, tracing one finger around the sharp lines of his cheeks and his nose. When Rin smiled, so did Haru. Rin couldn’t stop giggling, that one finger tickling his chin and his throat and the back of his neck. His tail madly flapped as he squirmed.

“Haru . . .” He grasped Haru’s hand, lightly licking his palm before kissing it. Rin’s tongue even _felt_ salty, like the ocean lapping his skin. Rin’s eyes were so full of curiosity, and so gentle. Rin swept the back of his hand down Haru’s cheek. “I love you, Haru.”

The corners of Rin’s eyes crinkled as his smile widened. Haru hadn’t even said anything and Rin was giggling again, tightening his tail around his body. He tilted his head, studying Haru’s face like he hadn’t seen it countless times before.

Haru met his lips with a kiss. “Then let me meet him.”

Rin nodded vigorously, like it had been his plan all along.

 

A week passed, and he still hadn’t met Sousuke.

Haru didn’t ask again, and Rin dodged any conversation having to do with home. They continued to meet late at night, but Haru was losing momentum to swim out that far. They didn’t spend as often inside the volcano, because Haru feared he’d fall asleep on the ride in.

Once, he napped on a rock in the middle of the ocean. He couldn’t know how long he’d been sleeping—the sky was still dark when he woke—but knew that Rin had watched the entire time, that he hadn’t moved from where he was curled beside him. His tail was around Haru’s waist, warming his middle as he slept. Rin claimed to have fallen asleep as well, but he was never a convincing liar.

“I’ll bring you home,” Rin said, sliding into the water. Haru climbed on his back, too tired to argue as he loosely held around his shoulders.

 

* * *

 

When Haru swam, he imagined himself a merman.

The pool at Iwatobi High was nothing like the ocean. He wondered if merpeople could survive in chlorinated water. Would the chlorine damage their fins? Could they breathe it? But when Haru dived into the pool, in those brief moments he kicked his way to the surface, he thought of Rin. He thought of the way his tail moved, how his abs rippled with the water, how he stretched out his neck like it meant he could get there faster.

Haru was already to the other side of the pool by the time he came up for the stroke.

“Haru . . .” Makoto was in the lane beside him. “Did you just dolphin kick across the pool?”

He shrugged, not seeing the point in answering.

The last time he and Rin had met, Rin requested they not meet that night.

Haru’s stomach had lurched in fear, until he suggested they see each other the next afternoon instead.

It explained Haru’s heightened nerves—he fidgeted through school, and couldn’t focus even during swim practice. When Haru had asked if Makoto should come, Rin casually shrugged with a, “If he wants to.”

Not that Haru had asked him yet.

He was still silent as they rinsed off after practice. And still when the others waved goodbye, rushing to catch their train home. Haru slowly packed his swim things in his bag, conscious of the way Makoto patiently waited for him.

“Makoto,” he said, throwing his bag over his shoulder. “Come to the beach with me?”

Of course he agreed—with the pool open there were few reasons Haru would want to swim in the ocean. As they walked, Makoto automatically turned away from the crowded public beach, knowing their destination without Haru having to say anything.

He didn’t have Rin’s gifts with him—his arm felt exposed without the gold band—but Haru hoped he’d understand, since he just came from school. And, if they were seeing each other in the middle of the day, he thought it would be a good idea to keep them at home in case he met anyone new.

 _One_ new someone, in particular.

Makoto would glance at him as they walked, but Haru only stared at the side of the road.

When they climbed the rock and plopped onto the sand, Haru eyed the shoreline before he’d even stood upright. He saw the water glittering in the sun, the gentle lap of waves on the shoreline, but no Rin.

He swallowed his disappointment. It was irrational—Rin _wouldn’t_ be so close to the shore in the middle of the day; they only time he’d ventured close to land was at night, and even those visits were seldom. Before Makoto even had time to take off his clothes—he still wore his damp swimsuit underneath—Haru had already disrobed and was running for the water.

“Haru, wait for me!”

He tread water impatiently waiting for Makoto to catch up.

The ocean was strange, in that the water was always cooler during the day. It hadn’t fully absorbed the sun’s heat yet. Haru was used to swimming at night now, when the air was cool and the water warm, but the shock of the midday cold hit him like a wave. Makoto swam faster, too, trying to warm up, as they headed for the volcano. But it was easier to swim in cool water—they didn’t tire as easily, and the water was comforting as their muscles warmed from swimming.

“It’s so cold!” Makoto cried, as they swam around the volcano, keeping eye for any mercreatures. He was panting now but swam faster anyway, fighting off the cold of the water.

“Let’s get to that rock,” Haru said, pushing harder for what he now referred to as “Rin’s perch.”

The rock, thankfully, was warm. They both lay back, bare skin against the hot stone, sighing in relief. They were still catching their breath from the swim as they started to sweat.

“Summer is coming early,” Makoto said, squinting into the sun.

But they both sat upright when hearing a now-familiar splash of water, and then a head poked up from the middle of the ocean. “Haru!”

Rin’s sister appeared beside him, wildly grinning. “Ah, Haru! You brought your human friend!”

“H-Hi,” Makoto stammered, as Gou shimmied toward them.

Rin quickly followed. “Haru,” he whispered, though loud enough for all to hear, “I, ah, didn’t mean to bring everyone, but—”

“What do you mean, ‘everyone’?”

“Rin.” Haru’s head jerked up at the baritone voice, one he’d heard only once, when he’d been wearing fewer clothes. He automatically curled into himself, as if Sousuke could still see the skin beneath his jammers. “You know your mother isn’t as fast as you are.”

Haru’s eyes widened. “Mother . . . ?”

 _Sorry_ , Rin mouthed, as another head of red hair popped up from the water.

“Phew! I don’t know how you can do this all the time.”

The mermaid—Rin’s mother, Haru assumed—pushed her wet hair back from her face. There was a slight family resemblance, he noticed. They’d both inherited their hair color from her, but the elder Matsuoka had bright, grey eyes, almost silver. They sparkled as she swam over to examine him.

“Haru,” she said, smiling fondly, then turned to Makoto. “And you must be his human best friend.”

“M-Makoto,” he stammered, trying not to stare at the mermaid. She, like her daughter, wore nothing to conceal her human-like breasts, which skimmed the water’s surface. Makoto inched back, as Gou was climbing onto the rock and leaning in to study the muscles of his arms and chest.

Rin sighed. “Gou, please.”

Her face was as close to his upper arm as possible without touching it. “I didn’t know humans could be so muscular!”

Sousuke hadn’t advanced like the others, but his voice was clearly heard. “Gou, get down from there.”

She pouted, looking like she’d refuse, but slipped back into the water instead.

But Rin flipped around to face him, with an expression Haru had never seen before—brows knit in determination, jaw clamped tight, resisting either to scream at him or breaking out into tears. Haru couldn’t tell. “Sousuke, you _promised_.”

Sousuke frowned. “I didn’t _promise_ to let your sister act like a common siren.”

Rin’s mother whipped around. “Sousuke!”

Gou smacked the water with both hands. “I am not—!”

Haru closed his eyes. It did nothing to drown out the merpeople’s bickering. And Makoto wasn’t helping, frozen now after spying both mermaid’s breasts and having Gou’s warm breath on him. Someone was flailing around, swimming around and making a commotion, and Haru heard Rin’s steady voice, angry despite its calm. Rin was leaned against the rock, and though he wasn’t touching Haru, he still felt him. With his eyes closed, even despite the bickering, his pulse steadied with Rin nearby.

“G-Guys,” Makoto said, breaking his calm, “please.”

Haru opened his eyes. They were all looking at Makoto, except for Rin. He’d turned around, his body tilted toward Makoto, but his gaze was on Haru.

And he smiled.

Makoto kept on talking. Something about being civil, and formally meeting each other, but Haru only focused on Rin, on the wet hair plastered to his face and the red eyes shining on him. He stared at Rin’s collarbone and the curve of his shoulder. When Rin propped his arms on the rock, he stared at the silver band straining against his muscle; he stared at his long fingers curling around his arm. When his gaze swept up he stared at Rin’s lips, frozen into a permanent smile.

“Haru,” he whispered, gently stroking his ankle.

The sea had quieted, save the gently lapping waves on his perch. Makoto had stopped talking, and the merpeople were silent. Haru didn’t want to look up, but he tore his gaze from Rin and looked out at the ocean.

They were all staring at him.

Rin’s mom whispered something to his sister. Gou nodded without looking away, staring at her brother and his human boyfriend. Sousuke wasn’t close enough to hear them, he assumed; he was still in the exact spot where he’d breached, his teal eyes cold and distant. Haru found it interesting how he could be so far away and still see the color of those eyes. He didn’t remember them from the last time they’d encountered.

“Sousuke,” Rin said, spinning around, “come meet Haru!” His hands were behind his back, still on the rock, holding onto Haru’s foot like it would prevent him from escaping. From this angle, Haru could now stare at the strained muscles of Rin’s back.

Sousuke narrowed his eyes. “We’ve met.”

Makoto opened his mouth to speak, but Haru set a hand on his arm to silence him.

Sousuke went on, speaking now to Rin’s mom. “And you’re okay with this? After what happened to your mate?”

She turned away. She was looking at Haru now, and how Rin seemed to back closer to the rock, its edge digging into his skin. Haru wanted to nudge him away—that _had_ to hurt—but it meant touching him when everyone was staring at them. He wiggled his toes instead, but that only made Rin lean back more.

“What happened to my mate was an accident,” she said softly, staring at her son.

Makoto cleared his throat, as if requesting to speak. No one stopped him. “What happened?”

Gou had drifted closer to the rock again, floating near her brother, her gaze sweeping over Makoto’s body. But now she whipped toward her mother. Haru could only watch them, silent—Rin stared down at his sister, who anxiously waited for her mother to speak.

 _Gou doesn’t know?_ Haru thought, as he stretched one leg out. He poked Rin in the back with his toe, and Rin squirmed.

But their mother wasn’t speaking. She swallowed hard, looking at each of them in turn, staring the longest at Sousuke as he drifted closer to hug her. Rin visibly stiffened, but she backed away from the embrace. She shook her head, unwilling to speak.

“I-I’m sorry,” Makoto said, looking away. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Hmph.” Sousuke smirked. “We can agree on that, human.”

“Sousuke.” Haru previously thought Rin’s mother might cry, but her voice was like ice. “Stop it now.”

They all watched as she swam toward the perch. She moved slowly, never taking her eyes off Haru. Those grey eyes were jarring, now that Haru was staring directly into them. Was there something about the merpeople’s eyes that made them sparkle like that? They all had deep, expressive eyes; it would be an insult to consider them just one color. _Grey_ didn’t describe it. As she approached he could see the flecks of silver, radiant in the sunlight. She nudged her son out of the way—Rin grunted in protest—and held both her hands out to Haru.

He wasn’t sure what to do. But reaching for her as well made the most sense. She lifted her eyes and grasped one of his hands, hard. His fingers cramped, but he didn’t dare move.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Haru.” She lifted her body upward—Makoto looked away when her breasts were exposed—and jerked her head, indicating that Haru should lower his. When he leaned down, expecting her to whisper to him, she kissed his cheek instead. “Harmony and goodwill be with you.”

Rin was suddenly beside him again. He pulled himself up, hands flat on the rock, tail flapping behind him as he suspended himself in the air. Haru felt the warm whisper in his ear. “You’re supposed to say ‘and with you’.”

Haru nodded. “And with you.”

Makoto let out an audible breath when Rin’s mother sank back down into the water. Their mother was unlike the others—even with Sousuke’s moody reluctance, Haru could tell the younger ones were more playful. Less stern. And while the older mermaid had a firm grip, there was still something gentle in the way she’d held his hand.

Rin folded his arms on the rock, beaming up at Haru. “It’s the formal North Pacific Reef greeting.”

“Ooh, I forgot!” Gou pulled herself back up on the rock, squeezing herself between them both, turning to Makoto first with her hands outstretched. “You first, Makoto!”

Haru was too preoccupied staring at Sousuke. He had his back to him, whispering something to Rin’s mother, and she’d occasionally look up at Haru. She, at least, didn’t wear a permanent scowl; she seemed to at least be making an effort, even if Rin’s merman best friend wasn’t. And Gou was beyond hope, though in a different manner—she was turned to Haru now, grasping his hand, bowing so low that her forehead touched his skin. He could hardly hear her speak over the lapping waves and Rin swimming around them, but mumbled a “And with you” when he thought she was done talking.

“There!” She squeezed both Haru’s and Makoto’s shoulders. “Now we’re all friends!”

“Sousuke,” Rin’s mother said, as she pushed him toward the perch with her tail.

Sousuke idly floated in front of him now, squinting up at Haru. His eyes were like gemstones, his jaw chiseled like marble. He _could_ have been marble, for all he was reacting, unmoving before his friend’s human lover. It didn’t look like he’d _do_ anything at first. Was Haru permitted to initiate the formal greeting, not being a merman?

When Sousuke didn’t make a motion to begin, Haru held out his hand.

Sousuke frowned at it, hesitating, but then grasped it in both hands and bowed his head. He held on loosely, ready to release at a moment’s notice. It was strange, staring at the back of Sousuke’s head. His hair was black and glossy, shiny with water, and surprisingly thick. A lot thicker than his own, Haru thought.

Sousuke spoke through the grit of his teeth. “Harmony and goodwill be with you.”

His hands were trembling now around Haru’s, gripping him tighter, fighting to maintain hold of Haru’s hand when he so desperately wanted to let go.

Haru nodded. “And with you.”

Sousuke wasted no time in turning away, and Haru rubbed his palm where Sousuke’s thumbs had nearly gouged the skin.

But his scowling was short-lived. They all lifted their heads at once, at the crescendo of a foreign noise, and Haru understood right away what was quickly approaching—a speedboat.

“Get down!” Sousuke shouted, and the merpeople—Rin included—were gone, as if they’d never been there. Haru and Makoto peered into the ocean’s depths, watching them disappear until they could no longer see the flick of their tails.

Haru sighed. Even though Rin hadn’t been sitting beside him, not even _touching_ him from where he’d been floating in the water, he felt cold now. Makoto gripped his arm as the boat came around the volcano, and Haru rolled his eyes when he yelped. A girl on the boat eyed them suspiciously, but Haru raised one hand in a silent wave. She offered a reluctant wave back.

“Is this weird?” Makoto asked, still holding his arm. Haru looked around. From an outsider, it would only look as if the two boys were seated on a rock together, in the middle of the ocean. They watched the boat take a sharp turn and head back around toward the shore.

Haru shrugged. “Whatever.”

He looked at his hand, the one that each of the merpeople had held in greeting. He wondered why Rin had never greeted him formally. He wondered if they would come back. He wondered how long they should wait. Makoto slid into the water, and Haru wanted to follow. He was sweating profusely now, and the water was still cold. He watched Makoto dip underwater and then resurface, shaking out his hair. But Haru couldn’t move. If he moved, it meant altering the memory of that merpeople ambush. It meant he couldn’t picture Rin’s exact position beside him, couldn’t feel the spot where Gou had sat. The wet imprint of her tail had faded, but the rock still felt cool where she’d been sitting.

“Gyahh!” Makoto thrashed, splashing water everywhere, and that alone broke Haru’s concentration. He jumped into the ocean, pushing his friend aside, not needing to look at his face to register his sheer panic. But Makoto was fine enough to pull himself back onto the rock—he wasn’t being drowned, thank the gods—and then Rin’s mother materialized.

“I’m sorry, Makoto!” she said with a small laugh. “I have no self-control.”

Haru peered up as the boy curled into himself on the rock, hugging his knees and keeping his feet as far away from the edge as possible. “What happened?” Haru asked.

Makoto hugged his knees tighter. “She tickled my feet!”

Haru had to look away to hide his laugh.

But she was no longer laughing, anxiously looking around as if the speedboat were still present. Haru didn’t have a chance to tell her she was safe before she started to speak again. “I sent the kids home,” she said. “This is not a good time to be out. But I’m so happy to have met you.” She hugged him then with no warning, arms around his shoulders and breasts flattened to his chest. Her tail wound around his legs, her long tailfins tickling his ankles. He was anticipating the kiss on his cheek, and was surprisingly pleased when her lips brushed his skin. “There is hope,” she whispered, holding his shoulders. “And . . .”

Haru could only see the side of her face. He pushed back a wet strand of her hair, disappointed that her face betrayed no emotion. “What?”

She cupped his cheeks to lower his head, kissing his forehead. Mermaid kisses were always damp, he thought, with their gentle touches and smooth lips. It felt like both ice and fire, wet and warm at the same time. “Stay strong.” And she was gone again, slinking under the water, leaving Haru to stare at the emptiness of the sea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ([Here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/95377363608) on tumblr.)


	7. Chapter 7

Everything was boring without Haru.

Rin idly watched the steady flow of traffic: the young merchildren bustling together after dinner with their families, and the adults traveling to or from their jobs—or whatever it was they were traveling from.

He stretched out on a rock near the main waterway, where the traffic was heaviest. He liked watching them. He wondered where they were all going, or what they were thinking about. He wondered if any of them had met humans, and if they’d fallen in love.

Rin smoothed back his hair, which was securely tied in one of Haru’s hair elastics. He loved when his hair flowed freely, but he loved even more that he had a gift from the human world. Something _Haru_ had given him.

“Where is your other gold armband?”

Rin was startled, flipping over on the rock like he had something to hide. In truth, he hadn’t been doing anything—but lately, Sousuke’s presence alone made him jittery. They hadn’t spoken much since they’d all seen Haru and his human best friend, several days prior. Now, Sousuke was looking down at him, not even having the decency to meet him at eye level. Rin crossed his arms. “They’re both at home.”

“Don’t lie to me, Rin.”

Rin sighed, turning over onto his stomach again. He glanced at his arm, just in case, but he _was_ wearing the silver band. He’d been switching to the gold one more and more when he visited Haru, just because his human boyfriend would be wearing its match.

_“Rin?”_

“Haru has it,” he replied lazily, propping his chin up on his hands.

There were things Sousuke should’ve recognized—Rin’s disinterest in the conversation; his unwillingness to offer details; and the flick of his tailfins that said he _was_ paying attention and it would be a bad move to try grabbing for him.

Rin darted off the rock and away from the hand that went for his arm. Sousuke coughed up a splatter of bubbles; Rin had intentionally flapped his fin wildly to temporarily blind him.

“You’ve been playing around enough,” Sousuke said, shoulders hunched, poised to attack. Rin mirrored his stance, clenching his fists. “I won’t let you put your life in danger.”

Rin held back a laugh. “Does he look _dangerous_ to you?”

The corner of Sousuke mouth twitched. “And what are you to him? Some plaything? Someone to screw around with when he’s not fucking his human friends? Your father would be—”

He also should’ve recognized the blazing fire of Rin’s eyes, and the fist that was to connect with his jaw.

Sousuke flew backward with the force, slamming into a stone wall, and Rin felt bad for only a second until Sousuke was back to glaring at him. He wiped at his chin, but there was no blood. Satisfied that Rin hadn’t pierced skin, he lunged for him.

Rin skidded across the rock, his back stinging with blood and salt water, Sousuke pushing his tail into his stomach to pin him down. He aimed a punch to his face but Rin jerked away, and he connected with the rock instead. He muttered a string of curses as he rubbed his knuckles, but didn’t let up on Rin.

“Don’t you dare talk about him that way!” In the seconds Sousuke was nursing his hand, Rin swung for him. He dodged just in time to miss a fist to his stomach, but let up on his hold of Rin when he twisted away. Rin quickly slid out from beneath him. His back burned like a thousand jellyfish, his hand sore from when he’d first punched him. He smiled at the recent memory, which deepened the frown on Sousuke’s face.

“This isn’t a joke, Rin.”

“I’m not _joking_!”

But then Rin cried out as he was suddenly pulled backward, and even Sousuke’s eyes widened in fear.

“Both of you,” Rin’s mom said, her nails digging into his arm. “Let’s go.”

“Mom, you don’t have to— oww!” Rin slumped, allowing his mother to drag him home. He idly flicked his tail, sighing in defeat as he stared up at the distant, rocky sky of the reef. Sousuke swam at his mother’s other side, which was fine by Rin—he couldn’t promise not to try belting him again. She lead them both into their cave.

“Sit.”

She tossed Rin to the stone table and Sousuke sat across from him, as far away as possible. She shimmied out of the room—a poor decision, Rin thought, gripping the edges of the table to prevent himself from vaulting over it—but returned quickly enough with a handful of murky, brown algae.

“Ugh, mom,” Rin whined. “I hate that stuff.”

She slapped a strip of algae on his back.

It _burned_ , and he didn’t want to know what his scraped-up back looked like. He thought the sea water would’ve naturally disinfected it by now but, no, she lay strip upon strip of algae on his injury, and he winced with each cold strand pushed onto his skin. Rin leaned his chin on the table, which flattened his back and allowed the algae to better stay in place.

“Talk,” she said, her tone offering no refusal.

Sousuke began. “I don’t understand why Rin won’t—”

“Not to me,” she interrupted.

He grit his teeth as he looked away.

Rin didn’t say anything until his mother had stopped tending to his back. She sat at the table between them, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Sousuke,” Rin said, his chin still propped on the table. “Listen. I— I really like him.” He waited for Sousuke to react, but he didn’t. Rin had intentionally avoided using the word _love_ , and he thought that alone might mean something to him. “It’s not just because he’s human. You should see him swim! And . . .” He sighed. “Please try. Not all humans are evil. Just like merpeople!”

Sousuke, at least, turned to look at him. Finally. He uncurled his fists, laying his hands flat on the stone table. He stared at Rin, smiling slightly at the pathetic sight—Rin with his chin on the table, and a mound of brown algae on his back. Rin’s eyes were lifted up to him, looking so wide and childish. “Sorry about your back,” Sousuke said.

Rin shrugged; his mother readjusted the algae. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. Sorry about your face.”

Sousuke touched his jaw. “Guess that’ll bruise later.”

Rin’s mom peeled an extra strip of algae off the ground and handed it over the table. Sousuke hesitated, wrinkling his nose. But then he set it on his jaw, holding it in place as he propped his chin in his hand.

“What’s the point?” Sousuke asked, the end of the algae tickling his lip. “The merboys down here not good enough for you?”

Rin’s mom opened her mouth to speak, but Rin held up a hand. “Please talk to him,” he said. “I want you to like him.”

 

* * *

 

In the end, they were both grounded.

Rin wasn’t sure how his mother _could_ ground someone else’s merchild, but she’d managed it. Sousuke went home sulking, but at least it wasn’t because of something Rin had done. Rin retired to his sleepcave early; his mom gave him more algae for his back, though he moved around too much in his sleep for it to stay on.

Not that he could sleep. He lay facing out toward the pathway to their caves, and he heard Gou come in. But she stayed low on the path, so not to encounter his cave up high, and he flopped his head on the ground and sulked. He braided strips of brown algae like hair, then tied the ends together to form an ugly sort of crown. He smiled a little, imagining Haru wearing it—and hating it.

He was still awake long past the time to sleep, but so was someone else—he heard the slight ripple of water as someone moved down the pathway, past his cave so slowly as not to wake him. Rin waited until she passed to poke his head out. He’d expected his sister, probably going out for a snack, but saw his mother instead.

It was a stupid idea. He knew it the moment he slipped from his cave, easing into the pathway slowly, soundlessly. He shouldn’t be following his mother. But his curiosity overpowered his sense of responsibility, and then he found himself following her at a distance as she left home.

And then she started to swim toward the open water.

 _What is she doing?_ he thought, waiting until long after she left North Pacific Reef to follow. Because really, he knew exactly where she was going. He knew who would be waiting on the surface, on his perch, the moonlight glittering off his wet skin. Who would be disappointed when his merman boyfriend didn’t show up.

When Rin slipped out of North Pacific Reef, she was hard to spot. But he’d swam the route so many times that he didn’t have to search for long—sure enough, she was swimming toward the surface. He could see his perch in the distance, could see Haru’s feet dangling in the water. He smiled, watching those feet kick the water, remembering when he had no idea what feet _were_.

 _They’re still cute_ , he thought, slowly swimming toward the surface.

He had to position himself so neither his mother _nor_ Haru would see him. It would be difficult. His mother didn’t have optimal night vision, but she’d still sense someone on the water. And Haru could spot him from miles away. He stayed far back, waiting until his mother had approached the rock, before peeking only his eyes out of the water.

They were mere pinpricks in the distance. Rin squinted, waiting for his vision to adjust to the open air. Haru leaned over, allowing her to kiss his cheek. Rin thought his lips were moving, like he was saying something, and his mother bowed her head as she replied. He wished he could swim closer; he couldn’t hear anything, and certainly couldn’t see Haru’s facial expressions. They were so subtle, anyway, almost impossible to read even when they were close to each other.

Rin dipped under the water, where it was safe for the shiver to run through his body. It amused him that once, he believed his body could only react to mermaids. That he was designed for merely procreation. He felt down the front of his tail, remembering how easily Haru had awakened him. How he hadn’t been afraid.

 _Don’t think about that now_ , he thought, peeking over the water again.

Haru was searching his bag. Rin wondered what was in there, if there were more treats or those rubber protectors. They hadn’t used the condoms yet, but Haru continued to bring them every night he visited. Just in case.

He pulled out something flat, which was inside another bag, one that was crinkly ( _plastic_ , Haru had called it), and then there was _another_ protective wrapping under _that_ , so whatever it was was important to Haru. But Rin could see, even from a distance, when he opened it—it was a book. A _sketch_ book, Haru had said, like the one that had all the pictures of Rin inside. His _drawings_.

 _Is Haru showing Mom my pictures?_ he thought, panicked. There were some that were very . . . embarrassing. That only Haru could see.

But she wasn’t looking through it. Haru was writing something inside, nodding as he wrote. Then he closed it. Even though Rin had no idea what was happening, he was relived that Haru hadn’t shown her any of his embarrassing pictures.

Rin sank back underwater. He wanted to keep on watching, but he had to return to North Pacific Reef before his mother did. He swam fast, bolting for home, hoping she talked to him for just a little longer so he had enough time to return.

His back was stinging again; he was swimming too fast, being injured, and he knew he’d be uncomfortable for the rest of the night. But as he slipped into the reef, he was already feeling unsettled. He couldn’t stop thinking about his mother talking to Haru, and sneaking around about it. She knew that he was always there. And, after they’d all met, knew exactly where he would be. He wished he could turn back and go find Haru, but knew he’d already be gone by the time he returned.

 

* * *

 

How long was Rin supposed to be “grounded?” He was permitted to go to school, but went home straight after, and didn’t leave again until the following morning. Sometimes Gou stayed with him and they’d talk, or she’d braid his hair, but sometimes she was just bored and decided to go out. Rin couldn’t blame her—there wasn’t a lot to do at home, and swimming up and down the pathways did little to alleviate his need for a race.

He only saw Sousuke at school, and they were civil enough. They sat near each other in class again, and Rin stopped speaking up during Human Studies. He failed his oral exams, providing answers that went against everything in the textbook, but his mother said nothing about it. She cared about all his other marks, but glanced over Human Studies. Rin opted not to question it.

At night, he’d perch on the threshold of their home and watch the merchildren zip by. Already, the older merpeople were training for next year’s North Pacific Reef races. The children would shyly watch him, and he’d wave, the silver band glinting on his arm. Some giggled and rushed off, but some remained to hear his stories.

Rin didn’t think he had many stories—he’d won the races the previous year, but beyond that there wasn’t much to tell. But they’d seen him leave the reef and they wanted to know of the open water.

“Can you swim faster out there?”

“Are there sharks?”

“Do you see a lot of humans?”

He admitted that he’d seen humans, but wouldn’t go into detail. It was a scare tactic—the merchildren would huddle together, shivering as Rin told tales of boats and lone humans swimming in the open water.

“Aren’t you scared?” one of them asked, pushing to the front of the small crowd. “Humans can hurt you!”

“There’s nothing to be scared of,” Rin said, touching the ruby necklace on his chest. They didn’t believe him, but it was only the beginning of his teaching the truth.

It had been many nightfalls since he’d seen Haru. And he knew his mother went out each night, imagining the way they talked. What would they talk _about_? Mermom wasn’t a strong swimmer, not like he was; she definitely wouldn’t want to race him. _Maybe she doesn’t want him to be lonely_ , he thought, but Haru had land-dwelling friends, and he definitely wouldn’t be lonely with Makoto.

One night, his sister wiggled into his sleepcave. He opened one curious eye as she propped herself up, wide-awake like it was the middle of the day.

“I miss Makoto,” she said, smoothing down her ponytail.

Rin rolled over to face the wall. “You don’t even know him.”

“Oh, like you knew Haru so well when you first met!”

He merely _hmph_ ed in reply.

“Big brother . . .” She inched closer, pressing to his back as she whispered. “Mom’s been going out at night.”

He was wide awake _now_. Rin debated not replying—maybe Gou was a spy for their mother?—but sighed, relenting. “I know.”

“I followed her.”

Rin flopped to his back, wincing slightly with the old injury. She clapped both hands over her mouth, concealing her giggles. “What did you see?” When she shook her head, holding back vital information, he grabbed her shoulders. “Tell me!”

“She goes to see Haru. They talk a lot. But I don’t get too close, so I don’t know what they’re saying.”

Rin grumbled. “I knew _that_.”

Gou pointed an accusing finger at him, nearly poking his nose. “You followed her, too!”

Rin backed away, flinching when his back scraped the ground. “He’s _my_ boyfriend!”

But his sister had lost the strength to argue. She curled up beside him again, flopping her tail atop his, and he couldn’t be bothered to shove her away. He may have whined about getting grounded, and wanted more than anything to leave the _cave_ , let alone North Pacific Reef, but it was almost nice spending more time with Gou. Even if it meant she invaded his sleepcave at night.

“Big brother . . . are we going to lose you?”

His calm was immediately shattered. _“Huh?”_

“You won’t turn into a human or something?”

“Gou . . .” Rin sighed, turning his head toward her, their noses nearly touching. “Those are fairy tales. I’m not leaving.”

“But what if you _could_?”

Rin stared at the ceiling. He thought of Gou, and his mother; he thought of Sousuke, and the merpeople they raced against; he thought of his life in North Pacific Reef, and everything he’d come to love beneath the sea.

“I wouldn’t,” he finally replied.

Though the cave was dark, and he couldn’t see her face when she’d snuggled up to him again, he felt her smile. “Good. You haven’t gone _completely_ crazy.”

“Shut up!” She muffled her giggles in his shoulder. “You staying here?”

“Well, _someone_ has to make sure you don’t sneak away in the middle of the night.”

 

Rin didn’t sneak away—at least, not alone. They listened for the gentle swish of water as their mother passed, and then silently turned around to poke their heads from the sleepcave. They saw her tail end disappear around the curve of the pathway, and then looked at each other. Gou grinned and shot out first.

Rin had grown accustomed to traveling North Pacific Reef at night. The waterways were nearly deserted; the only ones out and alert were the patrol, and some construction workers repairing a bit of crumbled wall. They nodded to each other in passing, like it was normal for two merteens to be wandering the reef in the dead of night.

They hid behind a burst of red coral, which was close enough to their color of their hair and tails to conceal them. Gou flattened her hair down over her chest, in case it flowed out too far and gave them away. Rin had pulled his into a ponytail again, and now he fidgeted with the tiny wisp of hair at his neck.

Their mother slipped out of the reef, disappearing into the open sea.

“Let’s go,” Gou whispered, darting out from behind the coral.

Though she’d already disappeared out of the reef, Rin and Gou still hung a way’s back. They hovered near the exit tunnel, silently waiting, but not for long—they were too fidgety, and they wanted to go. Their curiosity overcame them. Gou lead the way, in the rare case they were spotted. She paused, looking around, and then continued out, and Rin obediently followed.

“And where do you think _you’re_ going?”

Gou had passed the patrol without question. But Rin had been unprepared for the sudden stop and skidded against the bottom of the tunnel, scraping the end of his tail. His growl of pain was deep, guttural; he clutched his tailfins to his chest, idly floating near North Pacific Reef’s exit, waiting for the sharp pain to pass as Sousuke’s father watched him.

“Rin?”

Rin pressed his tailfins to his forehead. The initial shock had dulled but his tail throbbed, and he smoothed down the shredded scales in place. It _hurt_ , but he forced himself to look up, grateful when his sister swam up beside him.

“Yamazaki!” she said, forcing a smile that Rin couldn’t fake. “We were going out for a swim!”

“ _You_ can,” Sousuke’s father said, pointing to Gou, “but _he_ is forbidden.”

Gou pouted. “Aww, come on . . .”

He shook his head. “Sorry, Gou.”

Rin looked up, out into the open sea. He couldn’t see his mother, but he knew she was out there. He knew she swam toward that rock, and he knew Haru was there, _so close_ , but feeling farther apart than they ever had.

“Brother?” Gou whispered, placing a hand on his tail, right below the scrape.

He winced. “Hurts.”

She guided him back home. Rin didn’t want to move his tail much, so Gou held his hand as she swam, steering far from anything he may bump against. The swim home felt longer; Rin was bored, trying to ignoring the building frustration. When they settled back into his sleepcave, Gou wrapped the brown algae around the bottom of his tail. It stung, but it adhered to his scales and soothed his injury. Gou rested a steady hand on his back as he lay on his stomach, staring at the wall of cave, umoving.

“I’m sorry, big brother,” she said.

He wanted to flip to his side, but wanted more for his tail to heal. He wouldn’t look at it. He didn’t even want to look at Gou, whose wide eyes stared at him so hopefully. Rin closed his eyes and sighed. “It’s my own stupid fault. Let’s sleep.”

* * *

 

Rin’s mother deemed his “grounding” over the following day, but he wasn’t in the mood to leave. After the midday meal he finally ventured out of their home, but only went as far as the rock near the main waterway. He could still see home from where he perched—his mother was likely watching him—but he had to admit, the change of scenery was nice.

There was no school that day, and merchildren were racing each other everywhere. He’d inadvertently gathered a small crowd again, and they wanted to hear more stories. They’d noticed his injured tail, and wanted to hear how it happened. Because _nothing_ touched Rin Matsuoka. It had to be a _really_ bad monster to hurt _him_. Probably even a _human_ , they said.

“Not a human,” he quickly replied, as he sat up on the rock. He curled his tail behind him, careful not to scrape his shredded scales, but also sure not to do anything to reopen the healing wound on his back. “But there _was_ a monster.” They shrieked in delight.

It mattered not that the tale was false, that he told them of creatures with many fins and sharp teeth, sharper than even his own. It mattered not that the story didn’t make sense, that there would be no way Rin could survive such a battle, but the merkids soaked it in. They gasped when Rin told them how he’d been caught in the monster’s jaws, and cheered when he concluded with his glorious escape.

“Is that what happened to your back, too?” a mergirl asked.

Rin smirked. “ _That_ is a story for another time.”

They groaned, wanting to hear more, but his sister had swam up to them and wiggled her way into his small audience. “Hey!” Rin cried. “I’m busy here!”

“Mom wants to see us,” she said, and slipped off before giving him a chance to reply.

“The scariest monster of all,” Rin whispered, sliding off his perch, “is the deadly _mermom_.” They burst into a fit a giggles as he shimmied away.

Rin knew he looked stupid swimming. He was moving his arms too much, and his tail not enough, but it was _working_. He felt like Haru, then. He remembered how Haru swam, and he mimicked the quick snap of his hips. _Dolphin kick_ , Haru had explained, and Rin could see why it was called that. If not for his human legs, Haru would _look_ like a dolphin when he swam like that. Rin pushed his arms in front of him, then brought them down to his sides in one sweeping, circular motion. It helped to take the pressure off his tail, and it was _fun_.

He missed Haru terribly, remembering the beautiful way he swam. He missed him a lot. Rin felt suddenly warm, smiling as he swam for home. No matter how much he missed Haru, and how badly he needed to see him, Rin loved that he could still make him smile.

But his grin fell when he slipped into the main room, at his mother poised at the table. He didn’t need the direction to “sit” to plop down across from her.

Though he was no longer grounded, he still felt the weight of punishment. Rin said nothing as he curled on the ground, leaning against the table, watching his mother. But she looked nervous, too, holding her hands in her lap, smoothing down the scales of her tail. Gou came in, too, and positioned herself between them, casually propping her elbows on the table.

“What is it, mom?” she asked.

Their mother’s nerves had immediately vanished, like they’d never been there. She sat up, her shoulders narrow and straight. “We’re going to visit Haru,” she said.

“What?” Rin sputtered. “I—”

She held up a hand. “I know you’re both aware that I’ve been visting him. Honestly, you two. You act like I’m blind.”

Both Rin and Gou lowered their heads and mumbled, “sorry.”

“Come on,” she said. “And Rin, don’t swim too fast. We don’t need you hurting yourself anymore than you already have.” He scowled, silently following as she left the house.

Sousuke met them at the gate. Rin failed to hide his surprise and disappointment, and his friend only frowned at him before swimming alongside their mother. From behind them, Rin grit his teeth, but Gou set a hand on his arm to calm him.

“What’s this about?” he whispered to Gou, as they left North Pacific Reef.

Gou shrugged. She had just as much an idea as Rin had.

They swam excruciatingly slowly. Rin tried out his human-style swimming again, and Gou mimicked him. Watching his sister, he saw how weird it looked. It was better when Haru did it. Rin could watch Haru swim for _hours_ , sitting back and just watching his human boyfriend swim. No, Haru wasn’t like a dolphin—Haru was _prettier_ than a dolphin, with his midnight-black hair and his long limbs and his little butt. It seemed impossible that he was going to see him now, after what felt like _years_ and _years_. Even though everyone was coming with him again, and he couldn’t be alone with Haru, he couldn’t wait to get to the surface. He hoped they could at least hug, even if they couldn’t kiss or do other things that Rin wanted to do so much.

His tail twitched at the thought of it. He tried to push it back; he definitely didn’t want to get aroused around his family or Sousuke.

The sea was a beautiful, glittering blue as they swam closer to the surface, so much like Haru’s eyes. _I’ll see those eyes soon_ , Rin thought, smiling as they broke water. The sun wasn’t as warm as he was used to, which meant the cold season was approaching. How would he see Haru when it was cold? Could the human swim in freezing cold water? He didn’t think so.

Haru wasn’t on the perch, but his mother wasn’t swimming toward it, anyway. She was swimming closer to the inactive volcano, and for a second he thought they were going inside. But she swam around it instead, closer to shore. Closer to where the land-dwellers lived.

Even Sousuke remained silent, but he was visibly agitated being this close to land. Gou reached for Rin’s hand, and he realized he’d been swimming too hard again. He slowed down, forcing himself not to move his tail too much. It was annoying. All he wanted was to see the land.

To his surprise, he saw the human best friend first. He was standing up high on a rock, and he waved to them. Rin guessed he was keeping watch, to make sure other humans didn’t come to the beach. Rin was almost afraid to look at the shore, like maybe his human boyfriend wouldn’t be there. But he swept his gaze down, and . . .

There he was. Beautiful Haru, standing up from where he’s been sitting on the sand, spotting them all in the distance.

He wasn’t alone.

An old human man was seated on a rock nearby, and it looked like he would move slowly—a lot slower than Haru—but when he spotted the merpeople in the distance he, too, sprang to his feet. Even as Rin swam, he looked between Haru and the other human and tried to figure out something, _anything_ , but neither looked at each other. They didn’t look at Makoto. They only looked at the merpeople as they came up on shore.

No . . . _Haru_ looked at the merpeople—Rin’s heart thumped at Haru’s softened expression—but the old human was looking at his mother.

Rin’s mother waved a hand at Haru, though she was staring at the old human. Haru took one tentative step forward—no one stopped him—and then walked faster to Rin, plopping into the sand beside him, holding him so tightly around the waist. For a moment, the old human was forgotten. Rin breathed in the warm, earthy smell of Haru, felt his human’s boyfriends lips on his cheeks. Rin wanted to kiss him so badly—he wanted so _much_ —but then, his mother began to cry.

“Mom?” Gou pulled herself closer to their mother as the old human settled in the sand in front of her. Rin wrapped his arms around Haru’s shoulders, holding too tight. Haru squirmed in his grip, but he didn’t let up.

Rin was surprised to hear the human speak, even though he could _obviously_ speak, since Haru could, and Rin knew that humans were not the unintelligent beings they once believed they were. But he definitely hadn’t expected the single word that cracked through his lips: “Ohatsu.”

A name.

His mother’s name.

When his mother turned toward her children, toward Sousuke, her eyes glittered with tears. She grasped the old human’s hands, too hard, Rin thought, seeing how old he was. “Children,” his mother croaked, swallowing down her tears. “Meet your grandfather.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've waited seven long chapters for this moment. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
> 
> (Chapter is [here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/95842862328%22) on tumblr.)


	8. Chapter 8

“Wait. Wait. _Wait_.”

Rin shook his head, splattering drops of water from his wet hair onto Haru’s face. Haru, in turn, couldn’t be bothered to wipe it off. He seemed to _enjoy_ it, leaning slightly closer as if the merman would escape.

But Rin wasn’t moving, besides the rapid shaking of his head. “This doesn’t make sense!” he blurted.

“Big brother!” Gou pulled herself closer to grab his face, forcing him to sit still. To stop shaking. “ _Calm down_.”

The old man—their _grandfather_ —was staring at them. Haru side-eyed Rin, who was looking everywhere but at his supposed relative. He slid closer, feeling the merman’s tail against his thigh, hoping the slight pressure would reassure him.

But instead Rin whipped around, his wet hair smacking Haru in the face. “You _knew_?”

“I asked him to help me,” his mother replied instead. Haru silently nodded. “Rin . . . Gou . . .” She looked over at Sousuke, who still sat near the water, the waves lapping his tail. “Sousuke.” She squinted up at Makoto, too, who still kept watch, and they waved at each other. “Let me tell you a story.”

“No,” the old man answered, before she’d opened her mouth to begin. “Let me.”

She sighed. “What difference does it make now?”

He bowed his head, and Haru thought he saw a tear drip to the sand. He reached for her hand as the children inched closer—Sousuke included—and she waved Makoto down from his perch. He looked nervous, but they’d never seen anyone at this side of the beach at any time of day, so he climbed down to join them. He glanced at Gou, who smiled, but she wouldn’t leave her brother’s side. Haru squeezed around Rin’s waist as his mother began to speak.

“Your father was a little too curious for his own good,” she said, smiling knowingly at her children. “Don’t think you’re the first ones to find that secret spot inside the volcano.” She looked out over the water, at the mountain looming up in the distance.

It was a tale of forbidden love, one that Rin and Haru knew first-hand—of mermaids and land-dwellers, of secret meetings and moonlight swims. Rin finally calmed down, resting his head on Haru’s shoulder, like she was telling the story of them and not of his parents. Gou still held her brother’s hand, but rested one hand on the arm around Rin’s waist.

“Wait.” Sousuke was the one to interrupt. “You’re leaving something out.”

Haru had noticed it, too—she spoke vaguely, like the story had nothing to do with herself. Like it was a mere fairy tale. The old man whispered something to her, and she nodded, as if granting permission for him to continue where she could not speak.

He didn’t hesitate. “Toraichi was my son.”

Rin lifted his head to whisper in Haru’s ear, “that’s my dad.”

Haru could’ve guessed _that_ , but there were a host of questions swarming in his head. The news was delayed in hitting Rin, too; he’d been so preoccupied with making sure Haru understood everything that he understood nothing himself. The news didn’t seem to affect him, though Haru didn’t think he’d previously known. They wouldn’t all be there, in broad daylight, if Rin had already known.

It was Gou who finally spoke, her voice soft. “Daddy was a human?”

Haru risked a glance at Sousuke. He sat up straighter, digging his fingers into the sand. He was so focused on the old man that he didn’t see Haru staring at him, didn’t see when Makoto turned toward him, too, gauging his response. He offered none. There was no anger, no relief, just a face and posture fine-tuned to listening.

“Yes,” Rin’s mother finally replied.

Rin sucked in a breath. He pressed his face to Haru’s shoulder, taking in deep gulps of air; Haru could feel the rapid pulse beneath his skin. Gou’s hands were on his shoulders then, trying to pull him back, though Haru resisted.

“It’s okay, Haru!” she said, pulling back on her brother a little more. “Rin, get in the water!” She looked up at Haru. “It’s easier to calm down in the water.”

There was a sudden flurry of sand and seawater. Sousuke was sliding closer but Makoto got there first; Haru had tried to drag Rin but his heavy tail wouldn’t budge. Makoto effortlessly lifted up his tail end as Haru linked beneath his arms.

“It’s okay, Rin,” Haru said, kissing his forehead as they took careful steps toward the ocean. “It’s okay.”

Rin’s breath sounded like trapped sand, dry and harsh as he tried to breathe in deep, and it wasn’t until Haru and Makoto were in the water to their waists that they released him. They carefully set Rin down, not releasing his body until he lay flat on the ocean’s floor, just beneath the surface. The water bubbled through his great, gulping breaths. Haru sank to his knees, holding Rin’s face in his hands, staring at his wide eyes hazy from the water’s reflection. When Rin tried to get up, Haru rested a hand on his chest.

“Wait,” he said, as if he knew, understanding from Gou’s simple explanation that the longer he stay in the water, the better.

Sousuke was nearby now, dipping underwater to talk to Rin. But he didn’t shove Haru away. Sousuke gripped Rin’s hand, his words bubbles of air that Haru couldn’t understand, but Haru’s hands remained on his face, his thumbs stroking his jaw. Rin’s chest had stopped heaving, and he was talking to Sousuke now, their words muffled beneath the water even though Haru sat right there.

Makoto had left, standing on the shore to wring out his clothes. He, too, had worn a swimsuit under his track pants, but it didn’t help the fact that his tracksuit, too, was now soaked through with seawater. He smiled at Rin’s mom, though, as they spoke, and he lay his clothes out on a rock to dry.

Sousuke’s head emerged from the water first. He stared at Haru steadily, his jaw accentuated by the water pouring off his face, his eyes brighter than Haru thought possible. “Thank you,” he said, and then turned away, pulling himself back to shore.

From beneath the water, Rin was smiling. Such a gentle, shameless smile as he touched Haru’s hand, then reached farther up to stroke his wrist. Haru took in a breath, dipped his face under the surface, and kissed Rin on the forehead. Rin’s giggles echoed through the water.

When Rin sat up he waved to everyone on shore, and his mother slumped against his grandfather in relief. Haru went to stand, but Rin tugged him back down.

“Rin, we have to go back.”

“My dad was human,” he whispered, even though they were far enough away that no one would hear.

“I know that.”

“Haru . . .”

Haru glanced at his lips. They’d been apart for too long; he wanted to kiss those lips, to thread his fingers through his wet hair, to run his hands down the length of his tail. He smiled, aware of everyone watching them, and kissed Rin’s cheek. Rin sighed from even that slight pressure, having gone too long without it. “Let’s go.”

Rin tugged on his arm again. “Carry me.”

“You’re heavy!”

He flopped on his backside, lifting his arms and angling his tail like they were legs. The top stuck out of the water, the red scales shining with water and sunlight. “Please try.”

Haru frowned. “You better hold on.”

When Haru slipped a hand under his tail, and one around his back, Rin’s arms were around his shoulders. He held on tight—too tight—but Haru stood up slowly, legs shaking under his weight and the current. Distantly, he heard Makoto crying out his name. Rin nuzzled his neck and curled closer to his chest. “I’ll always hold on, human boyfriend.”

Haru sighed. “Why did I miss you?”

Rin smacked Haru’s hip with his tailfins.

Haru was overly conscious of his legs. How they nearly buckled under the weight, how they trudged through the water toward their waiting friends and family. He felt the sand between his toes as he walked, the algae tickling his ankles. He felt the smooth, cool scales of Rin’s tail, and the small kisses on his neck. His skin warmed with each one of those kisses, his cheeks and the tips of his ears pink as came back up onto land.

“Isn’t he a pain?” Gou asked, as Haru settled Rin back down beside her.

Haru looked away as Rin wiggled himself into the sand again.

The old man—his grandfather—was watching him now, as if realizing for the first time that he was there. He crawled across their small circle and sat before Rin and Gou, staring a long time at their tails. He smiled slightly, looking up at their faces.

“They inherited his eyes,” their mother said, as if he couldn’t tell.

The old man smiled. “He was a handsome human,” he said, “but was even more beautiful as a merman.”

Rin opened his mouth to speak. He coughed, and Gou rubbed his back. Their grandfather sat close, but not too close; he kept on looking to their tails, as if disbelieving his grandchildren were part fish. Haru recognized the wonder in his eyes—how he wanted to touch them, to see what it felt like. Gou noticed, too, and she stretched out her tail, resting it right before his folded knees.

“It’s okay,” she said, flapping her tailfins, and he reached out a tentative hand.

Haru was jealous in that moment. Rin had his tail curled beneath him, leaning against it, and though it was within reaching distance Haru didn’t dare touch it. It had been too much, even, when he’d carried Rin from the ocean, knowing what his touch did to him, knowing how much Rin loved when Haru admired him. Now, his grandfather did the same, tentative fingers on his granddaughter’s tail, softly laughing as she tickled his wrist with her fins.

“How?” Rin blurted, interrupting the moment. “How did he turn?”

The old man smiled. “Magic comes with a sacrifice.” He turned to Haru. “How much are you willing?”

Haru sat up straighter. Rin’s arms hung loosely around his waist, fingers brushing his hip. Rin’s tail was so close, close enough to touch, but he kept his hands twisted in his lap. Unspeaking.

“Please,” Rin’s mother said. “Not right now.”

Haru’s gaze swept the circle of mermaids and humans. Rin’s grandfather sat in front of him, and Rin to the side; Gou and Sousuke; Rin’s mother, then Makoto.

His eyes were so similar to a merman’s in that moment: a bright, unyielding green, sparkling like one of the many treasures Rin kept beneath the sea. Makoto seemed to understand something Haru didn’t, something Haru refused to believe was a possibility.

“Tell us more about Dad,” Gou said, and the adults breathed a collective sigh of relief.

They sat on the shore for hours, until the sun began to dip below the horizon. They shared stories of their father, of his hard-headedness as a kid, and how he’d met their mother. There were few ways a human could meet a mermaid—the details were always the same—but as their mother told of their romance, she acted like a young mergirl again. How Toraichi, the fisherman, came out in the ocean, and how he would stay behind after his friends went home at night. How he swam after nightfall, when the moon was bright and the water warm. How Ohatsu, curious, would swim to the surface, watching from a distance until he noticed her.

“I was never a strong swimmer,” she said, “but your father taught me how to improve.”

They skipped over the tale of the turning. Only that he was once human, and then one day came to live in the sea. How he doted on his merchildren, ecstatic to have a family of his own.

Makoto spoke for the first time. “But don’t you teach that humans are evil? Did people know?”

Rin’s mother shook her head. “We told the others he’d been lost, and came from a different reef. He was a hero then. It’s far between reefs, and not easy to travel. But he _was_ a hero, in his own way.”

“And he won the North Pacific Reef races,” Sousuke added.

“Four times!” Rin shouted.

“There are other reefs . . .” Makoto said, eyes wide.

Gou leaned over to poke him in the arm. “Focus, Makoto!” When her fingertips grazed his biceps, Rin nudged her back to the sand.

It was growing darker, the moon rising over the sea. Rin’s and Gou’s grandfather hugged them before he left, sweeping them both into his arms at the same time, bowing his head between their shoulders. The others looked away but then he hugged Haru, too, Haru stiff and awkward in his embrace. He stared over their grandfather’s shoulder, trying to seek out Rin, but his mother had come over then and they were talking, and the only one looking at Haru was Sousuke. They both looked away.

The merpeople pulled themselves to the ocean, sand gritting against their tales, except for Rin. Rin hadn’t moved; he watched them go, waving as they disappeared beneath the water. Sousuke was the last to go under, nodding imperceptibly before he, too, followed the Matsuokas.

“Rin?” With the others gone Haru could hold his hand, even if his grandfather and Makoto were still present. Rin squeezed his hand in response.

“We can hang out a little while,” Rin said hopefully, looking to his grandfather.

“Don’t let me stop you,” the old man said, rising from the sand. “Makoto, would you mind walking an old man home?”

Makoto brightened. “Not at all!” He clothes were still damp but he pulled them on, and then set Haru’s bag in front of him. “Be safe,” he said, then offered an arm to Rin’s grandfather.

“W-Wait,” Rin said, holding up a hand. Both humans turned around. “I . . . I’m happy we could meet.”

His grandfather looked almost sad as he smiled, looking down at his merman descendent, getting one last glimpse of that tail and the muscular torso connected to it. His eyes swept up to Rin’s face, where his hair had dried and stuck up in all directions. Haru patted it down in the back. “So am I,” he answered. Makoto helped him climb over the rocks, and they waved one last time before disappearing onto land.

“We haven’t been alone in a long time,” Rin said, winding his tail around Haru’s body.

But Haru was already standing, throwing his waterproof bag over his shoulder. “Let’s swim.”

 

Haru knew why Rin was so quiet. Even after they swam out to the volcano, and after Haru had clung to him to get inside, Rin didn’t say a lot. He pulled himself up onto a rock, motioning for Haru to follow, and then they were kissing.

It felt like no time had passed since their last night together and that kiss, like they’d been sitting on that rock the entire time, lips and hands and bodies joined together. Haru pulled Rin’s tail onto his lap and felt up and down the back, catching each time Rin shivered. Haru had never kissed someone before Rin, but imagined nothing would come close—no one else would taste of the sea itself, or have lips so soft, or hold him so carefully.

Rin’s father had been human, then. Of all the times Rin had bragged about his father, Haru never would’ve guessed. It was impossible; one couldn’t transform into a different species, or survive in an environment they weren’t born into.

Haru thought of the ocean, and all the times he’d swam in it, feeling more comfortable in the water than on land.

Perhaps it wasn’t impossible at all.

“Rin,” he murmured as they kissed, as he lay back on the rock, drawing Rin down with him. His tail wiggled between Haru’s thighs, pushing high up between them, and Haru could feel Rin’s smile against his lips. “Rin.”

Rin’s lips were on his neck then, his hands working at his damp jammers. They rolled down off Haru’s hips, down his thighs, tossed to the side when Haru was left exposed, wrapping a leg around Rin’s hips to urge him closer. His toes felt along where his scales began, and he wondered how it felt to have them, if it was any different from how his bones fitted together to form his own body. Rin rolled his hips, pressing to Haru’s growing erection, slick and damp.

“Haru,” he whispered, running both hands through Haru’s hair, speaking between kisses. “Did you bring the protective rubbers?”

“The . . . what?” _Of course_ , he thought, remembering his bag, remembering all the words Rin couldn’t remember that he made up his own names for. “Yes.”

Rin was looking down at him, pushing the hair from his face, his body pulsing with the weeks apart and deep-set desire. His lips brushed Haru’s again, barely a kiss at all. “I want to make love, Haru.”

Haru had thought about it. A lot. He’d sit on his bed at home, staring at the box of condoms. He’d gone onto his computer, trying to find a fish with a similar body type to Rin’s. Nothing was identical, but some were close. He’d never _wanted_ to see a dolphin’s dick, but there were a lot of things he’d never imagined he’d be doing.

Like having sex with a man who was part fish.

“Is this the magic?” Haru asked, even as he reached for the bag. “I won’t turn into a mermaid, right?”

“Of course not!” Rin replied. “Mermaids aren’t boys.”

_“Rin.”_

Rin sucked on his lower lip and suddenly Haru didn’t _care_ , if it meant he could stay with Rin. If it meant losing himself and all he’d known, to stay in this spot, with this merman, with his lips and his hands on his body, with the heavy weight of his tail between his legs. “You’ll still be human,” Rin whispered, reaching down Haru’s arms. They clasped hands, fingers curled together.

He didn’t ask how Rin knew. It wasn’t important.

Rin was the one to rummage through the bag, searching for the double-sealed bag that would contain the small box. Haru lay on his back as Rin propped himself up, slowly pulling out a condom. Haru had daydreamed about initiating the act, and had thought about fulfilling it, but this part was always a haze in his imagination, the talk of who would be the one to wear it.

In his daydreams it was himself, pushing into Rin, but he still didn’t know if he could. He touched Rin’s tail, feeling down the back, and Rin smiled, pressing the condom onto Haru’s stomach.

“It will keep you safe,” Rin said with a smile, as if reassuring himself. He leaned over to kiss his chest. “I love you. I want you to be safe.”

Haru cupped the back of his neck, urging him back up to kiss him again. His hand traveled down the length of Rin’s back, down each groove of his spine, until it reached his tail, hesitating. Unsure where to touch him, so much like the first time they’d touched.

“Here.” Rin lay beside Haru, facing him, chest and stomach and tail pressed to the exposed skin of Haru’s side. He kissed Haru’s lips as he held his hand, sliding it farther down his tail, to where his ass _would_ be, if he were human. Haru felt nothing at first—and he’d seen his tail so many times, touched that same area—and then Rin pushed his tailfins forward, between Haru’s ankles, and tilted his head back, as if Haru had already begun. Perhaps he had, unknowingly, with his hand on his backside, gently rubbing the spot that Rin had instructed.

He was frustrated. Haru felt like he wasn’t _doing_ anything, even though Rin was reacting; he wanted to know how Rin felt. Rin pressed back into his hand and Haru kissed him again, urgently, clumsily, his tongue catching on those sharp teeth.

“Careful,” Rin said, as Haru licked his lips, expecting to taste blood. But there was nothing—Rin’s face confirmed as much as well—and they kissed again, more carefully this time.

Haru froze with a start, eyes open wide as they kissed, his fingers playing at Rin’s backside. He’d felt . . . something . . . a groove in his tail, one he hadn’t felt before, and Rin groaned through the kiss even as Haru broke it apart.

“Is that it?” Haru asked, and Rin nodded fervently. As they kissed again, Haru thought about how _much_ Rin liked kissing—he did it whenever possible—even as Haru gently prodded the groove in his tail.

“It’s okay,” Rin said between kisses, his lips swollen and wet with the constant, unceasing motion. He pushed back again, and Haru gasped when his finger slid inside.

It was . . . _easy_ , he thought; too easy. Rin’s tail was slick with scales and water and he felt the same inside, damp somehow, so much different than himself. When Rin tilted back again Haru kissed his throat, sucking on the sensitive skin, kissing up the underside of his chin to meet his lips again.

“Haru,” he breathed, nails digging into Haru’s hips. “I want . . .”

“I know,” Haru replied, kissing him again, regretting that he had to let go to unwrap the condom.

Rin’s tail was between Haru’s knees now, moving it higher and higher still. “Hang on,” Haru grumbled, fumbling with the condom. _He’s not a fish_ , Haru told himself, feeling down the length of that tail, with Rin’s lips on his body again.

Haru crawled over him to settle behind him, kissing his neck and down between his shoulder blades. When Rin pressed back his cries echoed over the volcano’s walls, reverberating even as Rin quieted, a constant echo of pleasure as Haru sought the groove again. It was easier this time, with Rin’s guidance, and Rin was already bracing himself when his fingers slid inside.

“Don’t tease me,” Rin said, burying his face in the crook of his elbow. “Please, Haru . . .”

He wanted to make sure. Nothing he’d read— _nothing_ —prepared him for this, for the ease in which his fingers moved inside him, in the shudder of Rin’s body.

“Tell me if it hurts,” Haru said, opening him farther, watching Rin’s face in case he didn’t say. But he nodded, pushing back into him again, willing and waiting.

But Haru still moved slowly, positioning his cock at Rin’s groove, his groin pulsing with anticipation. He eased in, hardly at all as he waited, but Rin didn’t cry out in pain. He pushed in farther, feeling Rin’s slick interior, guided by the scales surrounding the groove in his body.

“Haru . . .” If Haru wasn’t listening he wouldn’t have heard it, that slight pant of his name muffled in Rin’s arm. He paused, panicked, but then Rin pushed back again, urging him in deeper.

“Don’t rush it,” Haru mumbled, but Rin reached back to grab his ass, grinding against Haru’s cock. “Rin!”

Haru wrapped a leg around Rin’s hip and Rin immediately grabbed it, desperate to hold on to anything of Haru. Haru closed his eyes as he pushed in deeper, as deep as he could, feeling the scales of Rin’s tail on his stomach, Rin’s hair on his face. He kissed the back of his neck and reached around his tail, unsurprised to feel that he was already aroused.

When Haru began to move Rin moved with him, grinding against each other in motion. Rin pushed back when Haru grinded forward; he angled his head up to watch Rin’s face, but he showed no hint of pain. If it hurt, he hid it behind closed lids, behind the slight part of his lips as he breathed. Haru kissed behind his ear, felt him giggle; he kissed the hairline at his neck, the long strands tickling his nose.

And he stroked Rin, not grasping too hard—he hadn’t liked that before—but just enough for his hand to slide over Rin’s erection, feeling the blood pump through it. Rin had _blood_ ; it flowed through his veins just as Haru’s did, just as furiously when they touched. He had a heart that beat in his chest, madly pumping now; he had long, delicate fingers that reached back to feel him, up and over his back until he grasped the back of his neck, wanting to kiss him more. Rin craned his neck back as far as it would go and still Haru had to reach, their tongues sliding over each other in the open air before their lips met.

“Haru . . . I . . .” He licked Haru’s lips, teased the corner of his mouth with his tongue. “We’re making love.” When he smiled, tears glistened in his eyes like diamonds. “I love to make love with you.”

Haru kissed the corners of his eyes, tasting the salty tears, like a human’s. Like the sea.

Rin panicked when Haru came, even though he’d experienced it time and time before. He grasped Haru’s leg again, as if to steady him, craning back again to watch.

Haru liked when Rin watched. He was still fascinated every time, like it was new, like they hadn’t touched each other before. And Rin followed soon after, unprepared for his release because he’d been so busy watching Haru, and his cries echoed over the volcano again, and Haru wondered if anyone in North Pacific Reef had heard.

He didn’t want to go home yet. When Rin slid into the water Haru followed, and they just held each other. Idly floating in the still water, Rin cradled to his chest. The water was illuminated by a shaft of moonlight and he drifted toward it, wanting to see Rin’s face in the light.

Rin looked up at him, smiling through his shining tears. But he said nothing. For once, Rin Matsuoka was struck speechless. He curled to Haru’s chest again, cheek pressed to his heart.

 

* * *

 

Makoto hadn’t spoken much since the visit to the shore. They went to school, and he asked his usual questions, but nothing about Rin. They didn’t often discuss him at school, anyway, and certainly not at the swim club with everyone else around, but he wasn’t saying anything when they were alone, either. But Makoto seemed . . . nervous.

Haru hadn’t mentioned it, because he couldn’t find the words to explain. Even as he walked on land, he had one foot in the sea. He felt the seawater around him, even when he was dry. He felt _Rin_ , though he was deep beneath the ocean’s surface.

Haru broached the topic one night over homework, with their assignments and schoolbooks spread over the table, spilling onto the floor. When no one else was around. “We had sex.”

Makoto didn’t react at first. He was leaned over his blank math sheet, his fringe covering his eyes. Haru hadn’t wanted to explain the logistics of sex with a merman, and gratefully Makoto didn’t ask. “Will you be leaving?”

Haru had been tapping his pencil on his own math sheet but paused mid-tap, the eraser suspended over the only questions he’d filled in.

Makoto finally lifted his head. He didn’t look happy or disappointed; his face didn’t reveal anything at all. “If Rin’s dad used to be human, that means you could—”

“No.” Haru averted his eyes. He slowly erased a stray mark from the margin of his worksheet, and continued erasing even after the mark disappeared.

Makoto tilted his head, watching the slow drag of Haru’s pencil eraser over paper. “But you love him?” Haru wouldn’t look up, still erasing the non-existent mark. “You _could_ , right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Chapter is [here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/96462847788) on tumblr.)


	9. Chapter 9

Mama was making mackerel for dinner. And they weren’t just going to gnaw it raw off the bone; she’d opened up the ground vent, which immediately made their cave almost too hot to hang out in. Rin and Gou huddled in the path to their sleepcaves, shoulder to shoulder, as far from the vent as possible while still being able to watch. Their mermom speared the fish with a long stick of coral, staying back from the heat as she extended the stick out to cook the fish.

 _Cook_. It was a word Rin had to teach his sister, though his mother already knew what it was. There were a lot of things his mother understood, he realized now. About cooking and feet and the land-dwelling world, because her mate had been a part of it. Because they’d swam in the inactive volcano, and they’d talked just like Rin had talked to Haru. Just like Haru had taught Rin about life on land.

He watched his mother, who smiled as she cooked. The vent wasn’t a big one, but it produced a lot of heat. They normally kept it covered with a really heavy rock, one that he didn’t think his mom could move on her own. But after she was finished cooking Rin watched her roll it back into place, like it weighed nothing at all.

“Let’s eat!” she announced.

Gou was skeptical over the cooked mackerel, but Rin devoured it. Haru would probably like it a lot, too. It was cooked but still moist, the skin only a little crispy.

“It’s perfect,” Rin said, and his mom didn’t even lecture him for speaking with his mouth full.

Since he’d returned to North Pacific Reef the night before— _really_ late, when everyone else was asleep—he hadn’t been able to ask about his merdad. He couldn’t believe it. _Dad_ had been _human_ , like Haru was human. Mom had a human boyfriend, too, when she was young. Gou would talk incessantly about their visit to the shore, but only to him. And Sousuke hadn’t said anything about it. Rin hoped that meant he was thinking about it.

Or maybe his best friend was avoiding him, since he knew Rin was part human now.

But he didn’t think about that now. Now he ate his mackerel, still feeling warm from his visit with Haru (or maybe the heat of the now-hidden vent) and the memory of the first time they made love.

He’d been a little nervous, and Haru was _really_ careful not to hurt him, which made it even more amazing. He smiled, picking at the fish meat between the bones.

He didn’t have to sneak off to see Haru anymore. As long as he went to school, and at least _thought_ about a career, he could go visit. Sometimes Haru wouldn’t be there, because he had other human things to do, but Rin would wait on his perch. He always wore a different necklace, paired with the gold armband of victory. On his wrist was a hair elastic, but he kept his hair down until he saw Haru. Haru liked it when his hair was down, and still got excited every time Rin came into view.

Gou would come for the trip sometimes, but Makoto wasn’t with him a lot. On days the humans weren’t there, Rin hung out on the perch with his sister instead. She would play with his hair, sometimes putting it into braids, and he’d let her wear his jewelry. The armband was too big for her, so he’d lock it on the end of her tail instead. It always made her laugh as she wiggled her tail, trying to see if it would fall off (it never did).

But lately, whenever he went into the inactive volcano with Haru, he felt bad. The spot was once his and Sousuke’s, but it had been a long time since his friend had joined him there. Rin tried not to let it show—he’d catch mackerel for Haru to cook, and Rin would talk while Haru listened. But he always thought of Sousuke. He was really busy now, with training for the patrol all the time, and he missed his friend a lot. And they still hadn’t talked about Haru.

“Do you talk to my merpop a lot?” Rin asked, as Haru roasted fish over the fire.

“He doesn’t live close,” Haru replied. “But sometimes he’ll call me.”

Rin arched an eyebrow. “Call you what?”

And then he learned about telephones and leaving messages, and Rin wanted a telephone, too, so he could call Haru all the time. He wasn’t surprised that Haru said no.

“What do you talk about?” Rin asked, as Haru lay the cooked fish on their rock.

“He asks about your family.” Haru gathered up a handful of dirt, and their small fire gently hissed as it was extinguished. “Rin, how did your dad die?”

“Huh?” He’d reached for a fish, but it was still too hot, and he recoiled. He stretched down to dip his hand in the water, rubbing the heat from his fingertips. “It . . . it was humans, Haru. I told you that.”

“But how?”

Rin frowned. “Mermom doesn’t talk about that.”

Haru looked away, squinting up into the mouth of the volcano. A single ray of light penetrated their makeshift home, illuminating the vines that crawled up the walls. “Your grandmother died, too.”

Rin nodded. “I thought so. Merpop is really old. It’s sad that he’s lost his mate.”

“Mm.” Haru pulled his mackerel over by the tail, even though it was still hot. He’d brought chopsticks to eat with, which he’d shown to Rin. They were just two sticks, but it was really cool how Haru held them and could pick apart his fish. But Rin continued to eat with his hands.

Haru didn’t talk a lot to begin with, but he was even quieter than usual. Rin could tell he was thinking. He was asking weird questions, too. Rin didn’t want to talk about merdad. He wanted to eat his mackerel, and talk about other things, and then make love.

He _really_ wanted to make love in the ocean, but Haru didn’t think the protective rubbers worked in water. And Rin wouldn’t do anything if it meant Haru wouldn’t be safe. So after their meal was finished they stayed on land, and they stopped talking about Rin’s dad and his human grandfather. Haru lay on his back, opening his arms, and Rin wiggled into his embrace.

Rin had tried putting on a protective rubber once, and got angry that Haru laughed when it wouldn’t stay on. He was too slimy, and the rubber was too big. Rin claimed he liked feeling Haru inside him, anyway, but wanted to try the other way, too. But now, Haru took a different box from his waterproof bag. Rin propped himself up on Haru’s chest, watching as he opened the new box.

“They’re smaller,” he said, taking out one of the circular packages.

Rin kissed him forcefully, cradling the back of Haru’s head before it slammed into the rock.

Haru was always thinking of him. He thought to bring the human snacks he liked—he really had a taste for the dried fruit now—and he brought the smaller rubbers, and he still wore the gold armband every time they spent time together. Rin held to the back of Haru’s head, kissing him, as Haru captured him between his thighs. He was already without his jammers, as they usually came off as soon as they got inside the volcano, so Rin could feel right away when Haru was aroused. He was still a little jealous how much easier it happened for him.

“Help me,” Rin said, guiding one of Haru’s hands to his tail, and Haru immediately felt for the spot where his own arousal would emerge. Haru’s hands were warm and soon Rin’s tail was, too.

Rin murmured his words of love, rubbing his tail on Haru’s groin, smiling each time he let out a little moan. When they first met Rin thought Haru was pretty, but he was more than just pretty. Rin had seen other humans now, too, and thought of all the faces in North Pacific Reef, and he knew Haru was _beautiful_. Rin pressed his palms to the rock on either side of Haru’s shoulders, holding himself up as they grinded, wanting just to watch him. Haru’s eyes were open—sometimes they weren’t when he was feeling really good—and they watched each other, the fire passing between them. Blue was usually a calming color, the shade of the sky and the sea, but there was nothing calming about Haru’s eyes. They were strong, a fire that melted Rin from within.

Rin fumbled with the protective rubber, but was pleased that this one stayed on. He would keep Haru safe. Haru was watching, chest heaving, shaking as he held to Rin’s biceps.

“We don’t have to,” Rin said, grasping one of his shaking hands.

Haru pouted. “I want to.” He was beautiful even when he pouted, so determined. He reached into his bag again and took out a little plastic bottle. Rin watched as he opened it—the cap stayed connected, which thrilled him—and pushed on it so its contents spilled into his hand.

“Haru?”

“Just use it,” he said, coating Rin’s arousal with the stuff. It felt a little cold, and squishy in Haru’s hand. “Please.”

Rin nodded. He didn’t want to ask; he didn’t want to waste time with questions. Haru had told him before that it wouldn’t be as easy for him, when Rin was inside. He thought this translucent, slimy stuff might help.

It _was_ hard. It was a lot of work. Rin used his fingers first, just like Haru had, but went completely still when Haru cried out. Haru had _never_ been so loud, and he was holding so hard to Rin’s arm that he scratched him. But he was begging Rin not to stop, so he didn’t. He moved his fingers really slowly, watching Haru’s face, but he never calmed down. Even though Haru said he wanted to, and pushed into Rin’s hand, Rin slowly pulled out.

“Rin . . . I’m not ready . . .”

He set a hand on Haru’s stomach. Rin felt cold all over, and his arousal was shrinking. “I’m hurting you, Haru.”

“You . . .” Haru swatted his hand away. “I told you not to stop.”

His chin wobbled like he might cry, but he didn’t let the tears escape. “Haru!”

Haru was in pain, that was all. He sat up, Rin still curled between his legs, and they talked. Haru had to explain a lot about boys making love. He told him about the slimy stuff— _lube_ , he called it—and about his body, and how it would feel good when they were together. Rin wanted to believe it, but he wasn’t in the mood anymore. Rin curled up between his legs and rested his head on Haru’s shoulder.

“You yelled at me,” Rin said.

Haru didn’t say anything. Rin had been denying it, but he’d had been acting weird ever since they first made love. Haru still talked to him and held him like they were in love, but there was a strange distance. It made Rin hold on tighter, or stay just a little longer than he should at night. He trailed his fingertips down Haru’s naked chest, and he still shivered like he always did. He was still aroused, too, and didn’t push Rin away when he held it.

“Come in the water with me,” Rin said, which was one thing Haru didn’t often refuse.

He loved to kiss Haru in the water. Haru _belonged_ in the water, even if he didn’t have a tail. Rin touched his back, loosely wrapping his tail around his one of his legs, and slid a hand down to his butt. He held it gently, in case Haru was still hurting, but when Haru softly moaned he knew it was okay.

He didn’t want to stop kissing Haru—Haru, too, grunted when Rin pulled away—but it meant he could kiss _all_ of him, working on his neck and down to his chest. It wasn’t the first time Rin would suck him underwater, and his human boyfriend knew it was coming. He looped his free leg around Rin, resting the foot on his tail, as Rin slowly moved downward, his lips touching every part of Haru’s chest. He wasn’t as muscular as a merman, but his skin was firm, and he was strong. He traced the line of his chest down to his stomach, his tongue flicking each of his nipples before he went underwater.

Once Rin was submerged, Haru’s fingers were threaded through his hair. He _loved_ this part. He loved when Haru touched him back, when they touched each other. He kissed low on Haru’s stomach, the tip of his penis tickling the underside of Rin’s chin. He kissed the crease between his thigh and pelvis, then around his arousal to the other leg. He didn’t have to hear Haru’s hitched breath to know he enjoyed himself—he _felt_ it, the slight ripple of the water when Haru shivered, the firmer grasp on his head. And when Rin kissed him between the legs he looked up, seeing how Haru tilted his head back, mouth open soundlessly as Rin took him into his mouth.

 _Haru would like breathing underwater_ , he thought, closing his eyes, careful to pull his teeth back. Haru was so _sensitive_ ; he’d learned that early. Rin held his butt with one hand, the other wrapped around the base of his arousal, and Haru gently rocked his hips. He wasn’t surprised by this action anymore. He’d almost choked the first time, but he expected it now. It meant Haru was having fun. That Rin was doing a good job.

He wanted to touch him inside again, to see if it was easier in the water. The lube was okay for land-dwellers, but here they didn’t need it. He peered up to watch Haru, smiling slightly when he saw Haru watching. Haru smiled, too, still playing with Rin’s hair, pushing it away from his face. Like he wanted to watch.

But he didn’t have to see Haru’s face to know how he reacted. The twitch and jerk of his body was magnified in the water. Rin moved a hand farther between his legs, where he’d touched before, hoping the water made it easier. Haru was massaging the back of his head now. He concentrated on that steady motion as he pressed one finger to him, not entering yet, waiting for his reaction. Haru’s abdomen retracted, but he pushed his butt against Rin’s hand, and he took that to mean he wanted to try again.

Rin moved slowly, inching one finger inside as his tongue worked at his penis, concentrating on not losing that momentum. Whenever Haru tensed he would stop, wait for him to relax again, and then move his finger again. Both of Haru’s legs were around him now, resting on his shoulders, and it opened him wider. When Rin glanced up, Haru’s face was so close to the water. His eyes were shut tight, his mouth open as he gasped, and he looked so beautiful and vulnerable. Rin closed his eyes, working his finger and his mouth, feeling the familiar tremble of Haru’s body.

Rin loved him. _So much_. He heard Haru cry his name from underwater. He pushed his finger in farther and Haru clenched around him; Rin waited for the stillness that meant he would soon release.

All at once Haru relaxed, and his bitterness slid over Rin’s tongue. He touched Haru’s stomach, feeling the way his muscles rippled from his release, and kissed the spot below his belly before coming up again.

Haru didn’t give him a chance to speak. They were kissing again, and Haru was in the water to his chin, as deep as he could go, the salt water splashing into their mouths. His legs wound around Rin again, and his hands wandered down to his tail. When they broke apart, Rin set his hands on Haru’s chest to feel it move as he panted.

“Stay with me,” Rin said.

Haru’s heart pulsed faster, stronger. He was still panting, quick breaths though parted lips, his chest expanding under Rin’s hands. Filling his lungs with air helped calm him, Rin knew, just like Rin needed the water when he felt anxious. He dipped down farther, only his eyes above the surface, staring up at Haru’s face. He breathed in water like Haru breathed air, but it did little to calm their pounding hearts.

Rin popped back up to speak. “Stay with me, Haru.”

He drifted backward and the absence of Haru’s skin shocked Rin, his hands cold in the open air. He pushed them underwater. But Haru never stopped looking at him. “What’s the sacrifice?”

Rin knit his eyebrows. “Huh?”

“I have to give something up,” Haru said resolutely. “What is it?”

“I— I don’t know . . .”

Haru had just been so happy, but now he was drifting farther away, like Rin would hurt him. When Rin reached out he didn’t dodge him, at least; he allowed the merman to touch his face, lightly brushing his cheek. “I’ll find out,” Rin said. “Haru, I want you to be a merman with me. We’ll be so happy.”

Haru tilted his face, breathing warm on Rin’s palm. He closed his eyes, kissed his hand, and then turned around.

“Haru?”

He pulled himself back onto the rock—Rin caught a quick glimpse of his naked butt—and then sat on the edge, feet dangling in the water. He lifted his head, though there was little direct sunlight left, leaning back on his hands. He was drying off, Rin realized. He wanted to leave.

Rin swam over, pressing himself to the rock between Haru’s open legs. His penis looked so small when he wasn’t aroused. He tried not to stare at it. “Please say something.” Rin could only see the underside of Haru’s chin. He couldn’t see his face, which made reading Haru so much more difficult.

“You can’t say that,” Haru said evenly, “without knowing the sacrifice.”

“But Haru—”

“Would you leave everything for me?” He looked down, but he wasn’t angry. Rin breathed a sigh of relief. But he looked almost . . . sad.

Rin chewed on his lower lip, a habit he’d picked up from Makoto, of all humans. But the moment he clamped down on his skin it _hurt_ , and he recoiled from the sharpness of his own teeth. He didn’t think he’d ever hurt Haru while they were kissing but now, as he studied him, there may have been little cuts around his lips. He was too far to tell. If only he could get up there and . . .

Rin was stalling. Haru was waiting for an answer, one that he didn’t have. “You have to give something up to change,” Rin said slowly, as if thinking it over for himself. “But I don’t know what that is.”

Haru’s voice held no hint of emotion. “So you can’t answer.”

“But Haru, that’s _different_!” Rin clenched his fists at his sides and swam around in a circle, not daring to venture too far from Haru. “I _can’t_ leave! North Pacific Reef is my home. You’d love it, too. Mermom and Gou love you, and I’m sure Sousuke will, too, when he gets to know you, and . . .”

Haru was pulling his feet from the water, shaking them off, and reaching for his jammers. They were still damp, so Haru rolled them up and squeezed, shaking out the excess water. Rin normally liked to watch Haru put on his clothes, because it was so amusing how the fabric caught on his wet skin. But he couldn’t even smile as Haru put one foot in, then the other, and lifted his butt to pull up the bathing outfit. Rin sank back down to his eyes, blowing bubbles through his nose underwater.

“Bring me home,” Haru said, shoving the snacks and the box of protective rubbers into the waterproof bag. He tied it securely around his back before jumping back into the water. “It’s getting late.”

It wasn’t any later than usual. Sometimes, they’d stay out later than this. But Rin just nodded as he turned around, and Haru clung to his back like he always did. He wrapped his arms and legs around Rin’s body, flush against him, cradling his cheek on the back of Rin’s neck. “Ready?” Rin asked, and waited for Haru’s deep breath before they went under.

Normally Rin wouldn’t bring him all the way to shore, but he wanted to that day. He peered around the edge of the volcano, just in case any other humans were there, even though there never were. And Haru hadn’t let go, either, which Rin took as a good sign. He swam slowly to shore, allowing Haru to catch his breath after holding it for so long. Haru’s heart beat against his back, his palms splayed over his chest. Rin shivered when a slight kiss was pressed to the nape of his neck.

Rin didn’t need his arms to swim. He swung his tail alone, pressing his hands over those on his chest. The sun barely touched the horizon in its descent, but still they were at the shore. Haru was standing on his feet, swaying a little after not using them all day. Like he always did.

He went for the small pile of fabric, which Rin knew to be his clothes and towel. Rin didn’t have to leave yet—he had nowhere in particular to be—so he watched. He watched Haru towel off, ridding himself of the evidence of the sea. He kept his swimming outfit on, which Rin thought was weird the first time he watched Haru dress, because it would be wet under his clothes. But he learned this was just one of Haru’s quirks. But he didn’t get dressed yet—he lay his towel out, sat with his legs spread out, propping his arms behind him. He looked at Rin, smiling at the merman who still lingered in the water.

“What did I do wrong?” Rin asked. He’d _wanted_ to sound angry, but it came out weak.

Haru looked away, but patted the sand beside him. Rin dragged himself up to curl beside him, not touching him too much because Haru was trying to dry off.

He could touch his face, though. Haru didn’t put any clothes on his face. He smiled a little when Rin pecked his cheek. “I don’t know what’s wrong if you don’t tell me.”

Haru stared out over the ocean, the breeze ruffling his drying hair. “I have a home, too.” When Rin didn’t reply, he went on. “I’m still in school. I can’t just . . . leave.”

“But then you won’t have to finish school.” Rin tried getting him to smile, but Haru didn’t break his gaze from the ocean.

“I don’t know what I’m doing after I graduate.”

“You could . . . stay with me . . .” He lightly brushed Haru’s cheek, a slight whisper of his fingertips. “I love you, Haru.”

“Stop saying that.”

Rin shrank back, curling tighter into himself. “W-What?”

Haru scrambled up to standing, and Rin hated that he couldn’t follow. He pulled on his clothes, then shook sand from the towel before shoving it into his bag. He didn’t even roll it up like usual, so it didn’t fit well. He yanked on the zipper to close it.

“Haru!”

“You never asked.” Haru slung the bag over his shoulder and looked down, wincing slightly. Rin’s tail was coiled beneath him and he hugged it, his chest pressed to his scales, making him look infinitely smaller. He squinted up at Haru’s figure, a shadow encased in the setting sun behind him. “You just thought I’d be like you without knowing what I’d have to give up.”

Rin’s body felt like it had been burned by a sea vent, or one of Haru’s fires. His tail _hurt_ ; it hurt even more when he held onto it, but he couldn’t let go. He gripped harder as his shoulders shook, as great drops of water spilled from his eyes. When they splashed onto his tail, it did little to alleviate the burning. Water only made it worse. Water wasn’t helping.

Haru could have left at any second. Even though he took a few steps away from the water, he paused. Rin sat up, trying to calm himself, but he couldn’t speak around the burning of his throat. He needed the ocean—he needed its comfort—but he needed to speak to Haru more.

Haru rubbed his arm, where the gold band was hidden beneath the sleeve of his shirt. “Do you want it back?” he asked.

Rin shook his head so violently that he smacked himself with his own damp hair. “Please don’t leave,” he croaked, hating that he sounded so much like a merchild. _Begging_.

Haru lowered his head, and Rin couldn’t see his face anymore past his dark, beautiful hair. He thought Haru had mumbled “I’ll come back,” but he could’ve imagined it. Haru climbed up onto the rock, paused—Rin sat up straighter—and then kept walking.

There was a chance Haru would come back. He would apologize, and then they’d kiss and everything would be okay. Rin sat on that beach until it was dark. But the dark didn’t bother him; he could still see, and he perked up every time a breeze passed and swept through the leaves of the trees. _Leaves_ and _trees_ , other land-dwelling things he hadn’t known before. He’d learned about airplanes, and telephones, and walking. He’d learned about cooking foods, and chopsticks, and different flavors of drinks. He learned that he had a grandfather. He hadn’t known Haru for that long, but he’d learned so much. And he loved so much. Rin understood now that he’d been attracted to Haru at first because he was a good swimmer, and he was pretty. But Haru was so much more than that. Haru was _wonderful_.

And now Haru had walked away without looking back. He wasn’t sure if he’d return, but Rin would come to the surface every day after school to check.

He heard someone climbing over the rocks.

There was a possibility it wasn’t Haru—it could be a new human—but Rin silently waited anyway, praying to see that head of dark hair appear from over the hill.

It wasn’t Haru, but it wasn’t a new human, either. Makoto pulled himself up, searching the beach, and then smiled when he spotted Rin.

“You should go home,” Makoto said, when he’d climbed down to join him.

“Is Haru coming back?”

“Not today,” he replied, which gave Rin a little hope that maybe it would be the next. “But you have to learn about this magic, Rin.”

“Does Haru love me?”

Makoto hadn’t stopped smiling, but it was sad now. Like the answer was no, or he didn’t know the answer at all. Either way, Rin frowned in disapproval. “You have to talk to him about that yourself. But he told me what happened”—Rin winced—“even if it took some prying to get it out of him.” Makoto smiled knowingly, like Rin understood his human boyfriend’s stubbornness. And he did. “I thought you might still be here.”

“So Haru doesn’t know you’re here.”

He shook his head. “No.”

He talked a little while with Makoto. Not just about Haru. Makoto asked how his family and Sousuke were doing, and Rin asked if he’d heard from his grandfather. Makoto was better about keeping in touch with the old human than Haru was, he learned.

“Does he know about the magic?” Rin asked.

“Yes, but he won’t tell us. You have to learn that on your own, Rin.”

By the time they parted, Rin was feeling a little better. But he’d been out of the water too long; he was drying out, and his tailed scraped against the sand when he tried returning to the ocean. Without a word, Makoto wiggled his hands beneath him and lifted him in the air, carrying him out to sea. Rin pushed his face to Makoto’s shoulder, but the human didn’t say anything as he cried. He hadn’t even asked for help—Haru’s human best friend just knew that he needed it. It was weird how different they were. Makoto walked knee-deep into the water, even though he was wearing pants, and set him down carefully. Rin sighed in relief when his tail touched the water again.

For the second time that evening, Rin watched a human he liked a lot climb over that rock. But Makoto was different; he turned and waved, and Rin raised an arm high to wave back. Once he disappeared Rin swam in slow circles to get the spring back in his tail. And even as he left for home, he didn’t swim fast. Because the farther he swam from land, the farther he was from Haru.

 

* * *

 

Rin was afraid to ask.

This topic was too serious to discuss with his sister, and he wasn’t ready to confront his mother about it. He saw Sousuke at school the following day, but it wasn’t until after class let out that he asked if they could talk.

Sousuke seemed to know why, and he lead them out of the reef. He stopped in the open water but Rin kept on swimming, past his perch (he didn’t see Haru’s feet, though it was still early), and toward the spot that had once been only theirs. Or so they’d believed, before they’d learned everything about Rin’s merparents.

The inactive volcano was charged with memories, with extinguished campfires and mackerel bones bleaching in the sun. Sousuke flopped onto his back, drifting in the water, but Rin could only stare at the rock where he and Haru had made love.

“You asked him, didn’t you?” Sousuke said, closing his eyes to the sun overhead.

Rin drifted nearby, flicking water onto Sousuke’s skin. “Yeah.”

“Idiot.” Rin scowled as Sousuke righted himself, but was surprised that his friend didn’t mirror his expression. He smiled a little, flicking Rin’s tail with his own underwater. “You can’t ask him without knowing what he has to give up.”

“Do _you_ know?”

He didn’t seem to have heard. Sousuke was lazily drifting now, avoiding Rin’s pleading eyes, staring at the mound of dirt that was once Haru’s fire.

“You _do_ know!”

Sousuke shrugged. “I asked.”

Rin fell silent. He could _know_ ; he could know _right now_. It still stung to think how angry Haru had been, and how he’d smacked Rin’s hand. How he’d so easily walked away, not turning around.

Finally, Rin swam closer, grasping Sousuke arm around his gold band. He stared at the glinting metal in the dim light of the volcano. “Do you like him now?”

Sousuke stared at the hand gripping his arm, slowly sweeping his gaze up to Rin’s face. Rin knew he looked pathetic. He was cold with nerves, the hairs on his arms standing on end. Sousuke pried Rin’s fingers from his arm, because the band was digging into his skin. “You could’ve asked about the magic, but instead you asked if I like him.”

Rin’s head bobbed in affirmation, hair flopping over his forehead.

A small smile crept to Sousuke’s face. “He _has_ changed you.”

“Huh?”

He shook his head. “You’re half human, and we’re still best friends.”

“Then it’s okay? Then you’ll be friends with Haru, too, if he becomes a merman? Then we can all be together! Oh, Sousuke . . .”

“But the magic.” His smile fell. “I talked to your mermom a long time. Gou was there, too.”

“ _Gou_ knows?!”

“We agreed that whoever you asked first should tell you. But you had to ask.”

Rin was gripping his arm again, linking the ends of their tails so he couldn’t escape. “I’m asking now. _Please_.”

 

 

It’s a long story.

All magic comes with a sacrifice. When Ohatsu fell in love with the human, she was a young mermaid. Toraichi was a beautiful young man, a boy who’d apprenticed with his father to be a fisherman. He was a strong swimmer, and that was how they’d met. The mermaid had wandered too far from North Pacific Reef, and saw him. She watched from a distance, ultimately deciding that the human was safe to approach.

And Toraichi was drawn to her, too. She was like no one he’d ever met, with her long, red hair and eyes that gleamed like silver.

They fell in love, as the stories go. But after time, it grew more and more difficult to see each other. Toraichi couldn’t spend hours with Ohatsu as he wanted, and Ohatsu tired easily from the long swim to the surface.

She had confided in her mother about the human, and she’d shared an old tale of magic that could turn humans into merpeople.

“It’s just a tale,” she’d said. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

But deep within the heart of the volcano, which hasn’t erupted in over two thousand years, lies ancient magic. Its waters are said to hold magical properties, controlled by the gods of the sea. If the mermaid offers this water to its human mate, he may become one with the merpeople.

“But ancient magic has a price,” her mother had said. “Your human mate can no longer communicate with his family on the land. He has a new family now within the sea.”

Toraichi was close with his parents, and Ohatsu never believed he would agree. She gathered the magical water anyway, traveling deep into the heart of the volcano, deeper even than the whole of North Pacific Reef. It was not an easy journey—breathing was more laborious so deep within the earth—but she bottled the water from the spring, which glowed with a red hue. Red, like her hair. It was fate, she believed.

It took Toraichi only a week to agree to drink the waters.

“I love my family,” he said, “but I want to begin a life with you.”

 

 

“She wouldn’t talk about the transition,” Sousuke said, “but said your merdad spent a long time here to heal.”

Rin looked around. His dad had stayed in this volcano, on these rocks, after his legs had turned into a tail. After he’d agreed to never see his family again.

It was too much to take in. Rin floated over to a rock, grabbing the ledge to steady himself. _Ancient magic . . . in this volcano_. He looked down into the depths of the water, as if he could see the crimson light. “How . . . how did merdad die? You know, don’t you?”

Sousuke sighed.

 

 

It wasn’t easy being away from his family. Sometimes, Toraichi would leave the reef to watch the fishermen pass overhead. He couldn’t see his father, but he knew which boat was his. When he’d bring the boat back to shore, Toraichi watched from the ocean, far away, as he docked. His father would always look out at the ocean again when he was back on land, but the merman would always disappear before he was seen.

But he hadn’t expected his mom to come out to sea.

It was late, and Toraichi was swimming too close to the docks. He wanted to see the boat again, the one he’d shared with his father. He kept out of sight, staying just underneath the boat, carefully touching the long-familiar wood that his grandfather had built with his bare hands.

When he pulled himself up to peek inside, his mother was sitting on the dock.

“Toraichi!”

He panicked. She did, too, covering her mouth with both hands, already silently weeping. It _was_ her son, but he was also different. He was even more handsome as a merman, his shoulders broad and the angles of his face more pronounced. There were other differences, too; his red eyes shone even in the moonless sky, and his teeth were sharp, like a shark’s.

“I’m sorry,” she’d said, scrambling to her feet, closing her eyes as she ran down the dock.

“Mom, wait!”

 

 

“Hang on,” Rin interrupted. “How do you know all this?”

“Rin, pay attention.” Sousuke lightly smacked him with his tail. “Your mermom followed him. She watched.”

“She . . . was there?”

 

 

They talked for a long time. Ohatsu kept her distance, as far away as possible so she wouldn’t be seen. All she could see was the black shadows of two figures, one who stayed in the water.

She’d already started to cry. As Toraichi talked with his human mother, Ohatsu went home. She didn’t want to see the moment he would die.

But his death wasn’t immediate, of course. The gods of the sea waited until he’d returned home, crossing the threshold of their cave, seeing his mate wringing her hands at the stone table before he closed his eyes in death.

 

 

Rin couldn’t staunch the flow of tears, speaking around a swollen throat. “Mermom . . . _saw him die_?”

Even Sousuke’s voice cracked as he replied. “Magic comes with a sacrifice.”

“That _sucks_!”

Sousuke reached for him but Rin had already bolted past him, swimming circles around the volcano. He stayed underwater, his eyes burning as they leaked tears, imagining mermom sitting in their cave and watching her mate die before her.

Curse the gods! He and Gou had been there; they’d always been there, asleep in their caves. They’d been left alone as their parents swam the open water, and as their merdad died in the entryway Rin passed through every day of his life.

“I won’t do that to him,” Rin said, finally coming up. “I won’t let him.”

Sousuke looked away. It was his turn now to stare into the water, toward the magic that lay far beneath them. “But you’ve already asked,” he said. “What if he wants to?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Chapter is [here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/97225273573) on tumblr.)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said this would be ten chapters, but Rin's brooding took longer than expected. Of course.

Rin never learned if he’d wanted to change.

Time passed, and he hadn’t seen Haru.

He kept himself busy enough. Rin had joined Sousuke with patrol training, and when he wasn’t at school he was often in lectures or shadowing an officer. He learned about protecting the borders ( _from humans_ , he thought mournfully), and the merlaws, and he got to wear the silver necklace of a patrol merman-in-training. Sousuke was already a full officer, so they often manned the borders together.

On afternoons that Rin couldn’t make it to his perch, his sister went in his stead. But there was no sign of Haru. Rin started wearing his hair in a ponytail all the time, partially because it was good for being on patrol but also because Haru had been the one to give him the hair elastics. But even the elastics began to wear down one by one; the land-dwelling treasure corroded quickly in the salt water of the ocean. He began to tie his hair back with seaweed again, determined to protect the few precious things he had from Haru. And he never wore the goggles—he kept them in his sleepcave with his other treasures, buried beneath the gold and jewels.

Sousuke knew why Gou always went to the surface. He didn’t like it, but not because of Haru anymore—it wasn’t safe for _any_ mercreature to be on the surface so often. The more they went up, the more likely they would be discovered. But Gou never listened—when Rin couldn’t be there, she would be. She didn’t want to risk missing Haru at all.

But the days grew colder, and the ocean colder still. Rin didn’t think Haru could swim when it was so cold, when white flakes fell from the sky and ice formed in puddles on the land.

“It’s okay, Gou,” Rin said one night, as they shared his sleepcave. “You don’t have to go anymore.”

Over time, he no longer had to attend classes. Rin was a full-fledged patrol merman, and he was presented the black necklace of the patrol in a ceremony with the other trainees. He didn’t swim in the North Pacific Races that year. Gou tried for it herself, though she didn’t place; the winner was a mermaid from the Mikoshiba family, whose eldest brother had also won years prior.

Gou said racing was a lot of fun, and that Rin would have to train with her for next year. It was her not-so-subtle way of getting him to swim again, and he smiled weakly.

The days passed. When Rin wasn’t on duty, he would help the younger merchildren learn to swim. They’d often flop around aimlessly, but Rin would teach how their tails worked, and to swim fast. Though he hadn’t swam in the races that year they all knew he was a previous winner, and they loved even more when Sousuke could join in on the lessons.

But mostly, his free time was spent brooding.

Rin had gone out to the volcano one day, intent on being alone. He pulled himself up onto a rock, then realized what rock it was—though the remains of a fire were long gone, he knew. Rin jumped back into the water and relocated.

It was still cold, but the white flakes had stopped falling for the season. The vegetation in the volcano hadn’t rebloomed yet, and there was no fruit to eat. Even the mackerel seemed to be in hiding; there weren’t many for Rin to catch, and he didn’t have the energy, anyway.

There was a distant splash of water and Rin sat bolt upright, even though it was obviously a merperson. It was impossible for humans to come into the volcano alone.

Sousuke breached, throwing himself on the rock beside Rin and dropping two squirming mackerel from his teeth. “Brought you something to eat,” he said.

Rin smiled, waiting for the mackerel to stop thrashing about before picking it up. “Thank you.”

They ate in silence, looking everywhere but at each other. There wasn’t much to see in the volcano, with the greenery not yet green again. But Rin stared thoughtfully at the mouth of the volcano, wondering when the sun would rise high over it again. Sousuke finished off his fish and tossed the bones into the water.

“I have something else for you,” he said, reaching to where he’d hidden something behind his tail.

Rin threw his own fish bones into the water, then watched him curiously. Sousuke set a clear bottle down between them, with a cork shoved into the opening. Rin picked it up. It was empty; he unstoppered the cork and peered inside, in case there was anything he was missing.

Then it dawned on him. “Sousuke, I can’t—”

“I’ll go with you,” he cut him off. “In case . . . he comes back.”

Rin stoppered the bottle again and cradled it to his chest. “What if he doesn’t?”

Sousuke punched him in the arm, none too lightly. “So you’re just going to sit around and do nothing? That’s not like you, Rin.”

They looked at the bottle. It was nothing special, just something else the humans had discarded into the ocean. Common trash. Rin chipped off a small piece of the cork with his nail.

“I didn’t tell you we mated,” Rin said, flicking the cork piece into the ocean.

Sousuke grabbed the bottle then, and Rin didn’t have a chance to react before he was back in the water. He shook out his wet hair and then stared at Rin, gripping the bottle firm in his oversized hand. “Then let’s go.”

Rin stiffened. “What?”

“He’s your mate.” He held up the empty bottle. “We have to be ready if he comes back.”

Rin lay flat on his stomach, idly flicking his tail as he looked down into the water. It was dark, darker than he was used to. Somewhere down below, there was a spring. A magical spring, that would transform Haru, if he only drank from it. He thought of his mermom going down there alone, and his father drinking of its waters. He thought of nursing Haru back to health as he sat on the rock, shining and beautiful with his new tail. He wondered how many in North Pacific Reef had previously been human. He wondered how many had experienced this ancient tradition.

“Old traditions,” Rin murmured.

Sousuke lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

Rin dived, tugging on Sousuke’s tail as he went down. His friend sputtered as he was unexpectedly dragged under, coughing as he clutched the empty bottle.

“Let’s go,” Rin said, without looking to see if he followed.

They knew these waters well. They’d explored the volcano since they were merchildren, jostling each other and diving down as far as they could. Sousuke swam up beside Rin, keeping pace. But this was no race—they swam side by side, so close that their arms brushed. They seemed to slow at the same time, looking up toward the mouth of the volcano—now distant, like the first star of the night sky.

“Why are you helping me?” Rin asked suddenly.

Sousuke was still looking up, holding tight to the empty bottle. Even from this deep in the ocean his teal scales were shining, and his eyes absorbed the trace light from overhead. “Because you shouldn’t go alone,” he said, finally meeting Rin’s eyes. And he smiled.

Rin pushed back his hair, a pathetic attempt to conceal the emotion flickering in his eyes. He nodded, then spun around and zipped down farther into the ocean.

Even with their heightened night vision, it was getting difficult to see. Rin swam close to Sousuke, their arms and tails brushing each other, down farther than they’d swam before. It was eerily quiet, with less and less ocean life the more they swam. The volcano’s walls were smooth, worn down by years of eruption so many years before. Rin wondered how far the bottom was. Could they reach it? If his mother could take this same trip, then they would be all right. They were strong swimmers; they were winners in the North Pacific Reef races.

But still, their breathing was labored. It was gradual, so Rin didn’t notice at first, but they began to move slower, like they were swimming against an invisible current. Rin wanted to rest, but knew it would only make things worse. He breathed in deep, his body pulling the oxygen from the water coursing through his lungs.

“Take deep breaths,” Sousuke said, his voice echoing in the desolate sea.

Rin nodded, not wanting to waste his breath on speaking.

 _Mermom did this alone_ , he thought, looking around the dark. _She was younger than me, and not as strong a swimmer . . . she did this to be with her mate . . ._

Sousuke grabbed his wrist, but Rin hadn’t needed the warning—he’d stopped the moment he’d caught a flash of red light, tucked into the wall of the volcano. They looked to each other, unsmiling, stern. Then they nodded simultaneously, and scurried over to the wall.

It was a cave, they noticed. A small cave, wide enough for only one merman to fit through it. A red light pulsed from within, its source unseen. The water seemed to shimmer, bursting up to the cave’s ceiling, causing a slight force to push them backward from the opening.

Sousuke pressed the bottle into Rin’s arms. He didn’t even look at it—the glass was cool against his skin, held tight in his crossed arms.

“Sousuke, I—”

“Go,” he interrupted, bumping Rin with his tail. “Let's hurry up and go home.”

 

It was so dark. If not for the faint red light, Rin would’ve been completely blinded. The cave only led one way but even if there had been branches off it, his destination was clear. The farther he swam, the brighter the light glowed. It dipped downward—that was why they couldn’t see the source, Rin realized now—and gasped when he reached the source of the glow.

He’d imagined a red like that of his family, like rubies and flaming sunsets, but the vent glowed a bright, pure red. Rin shielded his eyes, squinting against the sudden intensity after the dark, deep ocean.

He wasted no time. Sousuke was waiting for him, and Haru . . .

Rin held the bottle upside down to uncork it, pushing it downward as it tried to tip up and escape. The vent nearly pushed him back with the unnatural force. He wished he had legs or feet, something he could dig into the ground to steady him besides one hand. There was no heat escaping from the vent; it was surprisingly cool as he inched closer, holding the bottle upside-down over it to fill with the glowing red water.

He stoppered it immediately. He thought the ground vent pulsed, or maybe the glow dampened slightly, but he didn’t stay to find out. Rin whipped around, easier to swim out of the cave with the push of the water guiding him.

Rin didn’t even stop when he got out, zipping past Sousuke and up and away from the cave. “Let’s go!”

 

Even when they got to shore, and pulled themselves up on the rocks to catch their breath, they didn’t speak.

The glass bottle bobbed in the water below, its glow even redder and brighter on the surface. They perched with their tails curled beneath them, chins propped in their hands as they leaned on their elbows.

“What _is_ it?” Rin asked, staring at the bottle.

“Was it really weird in there?” Sousuke asked.

Rin nodded. “ _Really_ weird.”

That was the most he would say.

They agreed to keep the bottle hidden within the volcano, not wanting to risk bringing it home. Even though Mermom Matsuoka knew her son wanted to gather the ancient waters, they didn’t think she’d ever want to see it again. They found a patch of dirt behind a berry bush, digging a hole with their fingers just deep and wide enough for the bottle to fit.

“Do you think it will be safe?” Rin asked, as they padded the dirt around the bottle. Only the cork stuck up from the ground.

“We’ll check it every time we come,” Sousuke said, which pacified Rin enough.

 

* * *

 

He felt better having the ancient water, even if he still hadn’t seen Haru and wasn’t certain he’d want to drink it. Time passed; the cold turned to the season of rebirth, which soon brought the warmer months.

And still, after his patrol shift, Rin would perch on the rock on the ocean.

He felt alive in the warmer months. It was during the cold that he understood human’s need for clothes, and he’d wondered if Haru wore more of them when the flakes fell from the sky. He imagined him wearing many shirts, or covering his head, or wrapping himself in something like a big towel to keep in the warmth.

Rin sighed heavily and rested his cheek on the perch. He missed Haru a lot, and he prayed to the gods of the sea that he would come back.

Each night as the sun set, he’d slip back into the ocean and head for home.

Rin had never spoken to his mother about knowing the tale, nor of his journey to gather the ancient water. But somehow, she knew. She didn’t ask about Haru; Rin’s dejection alone was proof enough that he hadn’t returned. He thought Gou or Sousuke had told her everything, because she’d smile at him sadly, or hug him for no reason. It was nice to feel hugs again, and she didn’t even tease him when he’d kiss her cheek. She’s just stroke his hair, and ask how his day went.

“It was good,” he’d reply, every night. It wasn’t a lie, but his spark didn’t shine as brightly as it once had.

Rin didn’t mind the patrol. North Pacific Reef was mostly a peaceful land, and the patrol’s primary job was ensuring outside predators didn’t infiltrate their happy homes. The humans’ boats floated idly overhead, and sometimes those on border duty could see them swimming. But the water was too dark from the surface, and the reef too far below sea, so humans didn’t notice them.

They also learned a lot about humans that hadn’t been taught in school, like how they weren’t as dangerous as the schoolbooks made them out to be. Rin only yawned during that particular lecture, and Sousuke would look at him apologetically.

Rin and Sousuke made a good team on border duty. They were fast, in case sea-dwelling predators did approach, and had achieved top marks in hunting training. Rin didn’t ever _want_ to kill a shark, but he knew how to if they became dangerous. Like the humans, however, they floated above the reef and left them alone.

“Hey, Rin.”

Rin had idly been twirling his spear, still clean as the day it had been tempered. Now he stopped, holding it upright, waiting for the reprimand for playing with his weapon again. “Yeah?”

“Sorry about Haru.”

His heart fell into his stomach, sending a rush of blood down through the ends of his tailfins. He snapped the hair elastic on his wrist; he’s started to wear them as decoration rather than in his hair.

 _He’ll come back_ , Rin wanted to say, looking up toward the ocean’s surface. A big boat passed—one of those that carried hundreds of people, and sometimes played music—and blocked the sunlight. He wondered if Haru liked boats. He wondered what his merdad’s boat had looked like.

“How did merpop know what merdad looks like?”

“Huh?” Sousuke remained facing forward, looking out into the ocean.

Rin, however, was no longer stern in his stance. “He said my dad was a beautiful merman. How did he know, if they couldn’t speak to each other?”

Sousuke shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe he got curious. He was a fisherman, right?”

“Hmm. Yeah.”

The legend never said they couldn’t _see_ each other. But still . . .

“Big brother!”

They felt her before they saw her, the rush of water as Gou swiftly swam toward them. She was coming down from the surface and Rin’s heart thumped again, right in his chest where it belonged. She plowed into him, swimming too fast and forgetting to stop, sending them both crashing into the rock wall of the reef’s perimeter.

 _“Ow!”_ Rin rubbed his back, that long-healed injury from his fight with Sousuke flaring up again. “ _What?_ That big boat didn’t see you, did it?”

“Huh?” She looked up, but the boat had already passed. “No! Look!”

She’d been swimming so fast that he hardly noticed that she carried something. Now she thrust it out, forgetting again how close they were and nearly knocking him in the nose.

“Watch it! What _is_ that?”

It looked like a necklace. Gou apparently thought the same, for she extended her arms to drape it over his head. The necklace part was flimsy and looked like it would just float away, but there was a big, gold medallion at the end that weighed it down. Rin studied the medallion, which was etched with the figure of a swimmer. It was swimming like Haru, its arm poised over its head like it was about to plunge it into the water.

“There was a piece of paper with it,” Gou said, “but it got all soggy when I took it with me. It said it was for you. It’s from the human world, Rin!”

“It’s for me?” Rin clutched the medallion like it would float away. “What did it say?!”

“That was it!” Gou cried, drifting back as Rin inched even closer. “All it said was ‘for Rin.’”

Sousuke had abandoned his post and was staring at the medallion now, too. Rin allowed him to take it into his hand, but not off from around his neck, and his eyebrows shot up when he tested its weight. It was heavy. Rin thought maybe it was real gold.

“Haru swims like that,” Rin said, as Sousuke rubbed the embossed swimmer with his thumb. “It has to be from Haru.”

“No,” Sousuke said, dropping the medallion, and Rin opened his mouth to protest when he added, “it has to be from Haru, because who else would leave his victory in the middle of the ocean for you?”

“Huh?” Rin looked back down at his chest. “How do you know what it is?”

Sousuke shrugged. “It looks important, right? And it’s the same metal as our armbands.”

Rin flattened the medallion over his chest, pressing deep into the skin, picturing the way it would look on Haru’s chest instead. His lean body, so powerful, swimming faster and harder than everyone else to achieve this honor, which Rin now wore himself.

At least underwater, it was more difficult to tell when someone began to cry.

“He’s back,” Rin said, eyes shining as he looked to Gou, then Sousuke. He pressed a hand over his mouth as they both smiled. “Haru came back for me.”

 

* * *

 

He should’ve been on patrol the following day. Rin bustled about the reef, looking for someone to take his shift. Takuya, also a new recruit, had agreed, though more out of fear of Rin’s excitement over any real desire to work on his day off.

“I’ll give you mackerel!” Rin said, grasping Takuya by the shoulders. “I love you!”

“Calm down, Matusoka,” he said warily, slowly easing back. “I don’t need your mackerel.”

Rin couldn’t resist kissing his cheek before darting off, laughing in his wake.

Both Gou and Sousuke had wanted to join him, but Rin declined. This was _Haru_ ; it had been many seasons since they’d seen each other, and Rin wanted it to be special. He wanted them to be alone. He’d untangled his hair with Gou’s good comb (the eating utensil, he remembered, but it worked really well on his hair), and spent far longer than necessary selecting his adornments. He wore Haru’s medallion, of course, but also clasped his own gold band on his biceps and a jangling decoration around his wrist. It, too, was gold, studded with multicolored gems. There were both red _and_ blue among the colors, which made it perfect.

Rin thought his chest would burst from excitement alone, darting about the cave looking for his mother. She was lounging in her sleepcave, though she didn’t sleep.

“How do I look?” he asked, thrusting out his chest.

She was leaned over the lip of her cave, and had concealed a small object beneath her when he’d approached. Now, she smiled upon her merson, reaching out to thread his hair around her fingers. “Beautiful,” she replied, stroking his cheek. “Please be careful, Rin.”

He furrowed his brow. “But it’s Haru.”

“I know. But don’t be blinded by your love for him.”

He nodded, then pecked her cheek. “I know.” But he hesitated before darting off, glancing into her sleepcave like he could tell what she’d been doing. But like most merpeople, the real treasures were buried deep inside, where only the cave’s occupants would venture. “What were you looking at?”

She smiled a little, then reached beneath her to unveil her treasure. Rin audibly gasped—it was a medallion, a lot like Haru’s, but also much smaller. She allowed him to hold it and compare them, and even to put it around his neck. The ribbon was shorter, and it fell at the base of Rin’s throat.

“That was your merdad’s,” she said, “from a race when he was human. It’s called a medal.”

“A _swimming_ race?” Rin took it off again to look at it properly.

“First place,” she said, a little proudly. “It was a relay, he told me, when he was a child. A kind of race you swim with a team.”

Rin’s head shot up. He’d won this medal on a _team_ , swimming together with other people to win _together_. “A relay,” he repeated, positively giddy. “ _I_ want to win a race with a team!”

“One thing at time,” she said with a laugh, taking the medal back. “Go see Haru.”

He’d zipped out of the pathway before she’d even finished speaking.

Rin wondered if Haru had swam on a team. The medallion he wore—the _medal_ —had only one swimmer on it, but did that mean anything? He didn’t think Haru would be interested in swimming with other people, but he _did_ like to swim with Rin a lot. Makoto was a good swimmer, too; they were probably on the same team. Rin half-heartedly waved to Sousuke and Takuya as he left North Pacific Reef, swimming faster than he ever had, even faster than when he’d won the races. There was a boat overhead so he swam around to the other side of his perch, careful to stay out of sight. Because it was warmer, it meant a lot of humans may be out.

He didn’t see any feet dangling from the perch, but that was okay. He had the medal around his neck, and the day off patrol duty. He would wait. He would wait all day.

Rin carefully poked his head out of the water. No one was sitting on the perch, and the boat was still visible on the other side. He knew he should go back underwater, but instead he slowly peered around the edge of the rock. It was a small boat, and he could only see the stick the person was holding. The end was in the water, and Rin guessed he was fishing. He was glad he’d swam around the other way; a hook to the tail was not ideal. He peeked a little farther . . .

“Merpop!”

The old human looked up. Rin had ducked back behind the perch—he wasn’t sure if his grandfather was alone in the boat—but could still hear his voice. “Stay there!” he said, his voice strong over the water. “I’ll come over!”

There was a whirring sound, which grew louder as the boat came closer, and then it was in his line of vision. Rin visibly relaxed to see the fishing line was not in the water, and that merpop was fishing alone.

“Come to see Haru?” he asked.

Rin nodded vigorously. “But I haven’t seen him a really long time. I . . .” He swallowed hard. Rin didn’t know the old human well, but he was family. He could tell him anything. “I miss him a lot.”

“Well, it’s been cold out here,” he said, shielding his eyes as he looked to the sky. “It was a long winter.”

“Winter . . . ?” But Rin shook his head. It didn’t matter. “Merpop, did you ever swim in a relay?”

“Me?” The old human laughed, but it was a kind laugh. He wasn’t making fun of Rin. “No, I wasn’t a swimmer. That was all your dad.” He looked down at the ribbon around Rin’s neck, though the medallion itself was still underwater. “Is that . . . ?”

“It’s Haru’s,” Rin said, holding up the medal for him to see. “He left it here for me.”

He enjoyed talking to merpop. Rin kept an ear out for Haru’s swimming, but it was nice not to be waiting alone. Since no one else was in the water merpop let him into the boat, which was hard to get into without legs. He pulled himself up on the perch first and then flopped in, and his grandfather covered his tail with a towel just in case.

“You built this boat?” Rin asked, running a hand over the wood.

His grandfather grinned. “Held up pretty good, right?”

The boat rocked a little in place, and it was weird to be moving without doing any work. Merpop turned to a shiny block behind him and pulled a string, and it suddenly became very loud and the boat moved on its own. Rin covered his ears, hunching down to hide behind the old human in case the shiny thing attacked.

“Just the motor!” His grandfather said over the roar. “Beats having to move it myself!”

Slowly, cautiously, Rin sat up, removing his hands from his ears. He held the sides of the boat, and he grinned, feeling the salty wind on his face as the boat moved on the water. His grandfather was doing something to help steer it, but Rin wasn’t paying attention. He laughed, the wind whipping his hair, and they went around the volcano, much faster than if Rin had been swimming.

And because he could move _and_ watch the world at the same time, he noticed right away the tiny figure on the beach taking off his clothes.

_“Haru!”_

He looked up. Rin raised an arm high to wave, and Haru tentatively waved back. He stood on the shore wearing only his swimming outfit, watching the boat and the smiling merman who sat inside. The boat couldn’t get too close, because there was nowhere to dock, but Haru finally moved to wade out into the water.

But even as he approached, Rin turned to his grandfather. “Haru said you don’t live close by,” he said, the realization suddenly hitting him.

Merpop smiled. “Thought I’d check out the old stomping grounds.” He turned back to the water. “C’mon, Haru; get in. It’ll be a tight fit, but I’m sure you two won’t mind.” They both helped hoist Haru into the boat and he fell in ungracefully, arms and legs flailing and his face planted right in Rin’s lap.

“Not here, Haru,” he joked, nudging his face away from his already-warm tail. Haru grumbled and sat up, but joined him under the towel. Merpop turned his away from them to guide the boat back around the volcano.

Haru wrapped his arms around Rin’s waist, due to their tight quarters, but when he kissed Rin’s cheek he knew it wasn’t the only reason. Rin nuzzled his cheek, feeling both like it had been so long since they’d touched and like it had been only the day before.

“I’m sorry,” Rin whispered, squeezing him tight around the shoulders.

Haru shook his head. “Never mind that.”

The boat eased around the volcano, a little slower now, and they could take in the sight of the looming mountain and the waters surrounding it. Haru peered over the boat’s edge to watch the fish swimming about, but never let up on his hold around Rin. Rin pressed his face to Haru’s skin—his arm, his shoulder, his neck—having already seen the ocean’s sights on the way in, and much more fascinated by the boy sitting beside him now.

“I got your medal,” Rin said, and Haru sat up.

“I saw.”

“Did you swim a relay?”

Haru smiled a little, and Rin had almost forgotten how beautiful that smile was. It was small, and his teeth didn’t even show, but it was so perfect for Haru. “Yes.”

Merpop called over his shoulder. “You boys want to take another trip around?”

Rin answered for them both. “Yeah!”

Haru tilted Rin’s face toward him again, and his lips were warm and familiar when they met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ([Here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/97659839783) on tumblr.)


	11. Chapter 11

Rin’s grandfather was nice, as far as people go. Sitting in a boat meant feeling every movement of every passenger, fully aware of each time the boat tipped according to their shifted weight. But when Haru kissed Rin, the bow was silent. It was like his grandfather wasn’t there at all, staring steadily ahead as he steered. The gentle sound of their kissing was drowned out by the persistent hum of the motor.

It was only when the boat slowed did they break the kiss, but their bodies stayed entwined. At some point Rin had lounged across Haru’s lap, and now his head was on Haru’s shoulder as they watched the world pass. Haru stroked the ribbon around Rin’s neck, which was dark with the damp of seawater. The boat pulled into a dock, and Rin’s grandfather shakily stood as he stepped onto the pier.

“Thank you,” Haru said, squinting up at the old man. The sun was too bright; Haru could hardly see him over its glare. But his smile was visible and Rin lifted his head, curious. He glanced between them both, but for once didn’t ask any questions.

“Rin,” his grandfather said, crouching to eye-level. “It was good to see you again.”

Rin vigorously nodded. “Thank you for the ride!”

He ruffled Rin’s hair, and then Haru’s—Haru pouted, but didn’t say anything—and then stood to stretch his arms behind him. “You boys have fun.”

They watched as he walked up the pier, across the sand, and through the alley between homes on the shore. The pier was far from where they usually spent time together; the volcano was miles away, and Rin’s perch was a mere speck on the water. Rin propped his chin on Haru’s shoulder and stared at the ocean beyond.

“It’s pretty here,” Rin said, as he held to Haru. “Where are we?”

“I’ll show you.”

Haru took a quick scan of the area, making sure no one was nearby, then hoisted Rin up as he stood. Rin laughed as he was swept up in the air, clutching around his neck as Haru carefully stepped from the boat. Rin tucked the towel around his lap, but his tailfins still stuck out from the bottom. He curled them around Haru’s forearm, but it would be obvious to anyone that Rin wasn’t a typical boy at first glance.

So Haru ran.

Rin laughed as he bounced in his arms, clinging as Haru darted across the sand. Rin watched the ocean recede but then faced forward, gasping when the seemingly small homes loomed over them.

“It’s a house!” Rin cried, as Haru ascended the front steps to one of them. “I learned about these in school.”

“Mmm.” Haru stopped in front of the door, frowning. “Can you get the door?”

“The what?”

It was unlocked, as Haru knew it would be; he carried Rin inside, muscles straining from running with his added weight. A shallow blow-up pool had been set up in the foyer, which Haru gently set Rin in. The house was small and mostly empty, but Rin was awed.

Haru stood by, simply watching as Rin splashed water over his tail. The merman looked out of place in the land-dwelling home—all bright smiles and brighter colors in the wooden structure, humming to himself as he curled his tail in the shallow water. He finally sat up and looked around the foyer. They could see the kitchen and living room from where they’d come in, and a staircase went up to the bedrooms. A fine layer of dust coated the sparse furniture, proven when Rin sneezed into the pool.

Haru dipped a foot into the water, gently nudging Rin’s tail for him to move over. It was a tight fit for them both when he sat down, but Rin draped his tail across Haru’s lap so it didn’t matter much.

“Is this your house?” Rin asked, as he held Haru’s dry hand with his wet one.

“No. It was your grandfather’s.”

“ _Oh_.” Rin looked up at the ceiling, his gaze resting on the small upstairs balcony. “He lived here? And merdad, too?”

Haru nodded. “Yes.”

“Show it to me!”

Haru complained, having just gotten into the pool, but Rin extended his arms up when Haru stood. They dripped water to the wooden floor as they walked the house, leaving small, dark spots trailing behind. Haru explained each of the rooms and their functions. Rin compared it to the parts of his home cave, and explained to Haru, too, how they were the same. He marveled over the bedrooms, which were _so_ much bigger than his sleepcave, and Haru let him turn on the stove to see the fire.

“I won’t touch it,” Rin said, as he quickly switched it off. Haru smiled.

He pushed the pool into the living room and they squeezed together again, conserving space by crossing legs over tail in the water. Rin gripped Haru’s hands and asked innumerable questions about the house and living on land.

Haru wasn’t surprised by what came next. “Did you swim in the Olympics?” Rin lightly touched the medal he still wore. When Haru didn’t answer, he went on. “Mermom told me about the human races. Merpop wanted to race, but he became a merman instead. And then he won the North Pacific Reef races _four times_.”

Haru looked down at Rin’s tail, and the slight amount of water that protected it. His gaze slowly swept up Rin’s body—his stomach, then the medal hanging over it, and his chest, and the curve of his collarbone. Rin was smiling when he looked at his lips: A gentle, knowing smile.

“No,” Haru replied, and that smile fell. “There are . . . smaller races, before that. That”—he pressed a hand over the medal—“is from one of those.”

“Will you swim in the Olympics _now_? You could—”

“No.”

Rin’s exaggerated pout was almost comical, if it wasn’t for the tears beading at the corners of his eyes. Haru moved to wipe them away, but Rin _hmph_ ed and ducked from his hand. “Why _not_? You could win, Haru! You’re almost as fast as me, and you won _other_ human races.”

It was Haru’s turn to pout now, folding into himself and hugging his knees. Rin threaded the end of his tail around his feet and ankles, leaning in closer, propped his chin on Haru’s folded knees. It almost made him smile. “That’s not the reason I swim.” He clamped a hand over Rin’s mouth when he tried to speak. Haru squirmed when Rin licked his palm, determined not to let up, but then Rin tickled his ankles and he nearly fell backward out of the pool.

In an instant, Rin’s arms were around him and pulling him so forcefully that Rin fell back instead, his neck cradled on the lip of the inflatable pool and Haru’s head slammed into his chest.

 _“Ow.”_ Rin rubbed the spot right over his heart.

Haru kissed his chest, gently rubbing the spot his head so violently collided with. “Sorry.” He flipped onto his back, slowly so they wouldn’t upset the water onto the floor, legs dangling over the lip of the small pool. Rin lay over him, wigging his body between Haru’s legs, looping his tail beneath a thigh and up to rest as his side. He propped up on Haru’s chest to kiss his lips.

“Haru . . .” Rin sighed and kissed his lips again, prolonging the pause between topic shifts. Haru drew out the kiss; even afterward their lips brushed each other one, the slight promise of more touches and more kisses if Rin hadn’t pulled back farther to speak. “I learned about the transformation, if you want to know. I . . . prepared for it, in case you wanted to.”

Haru kissed him before replying, desperate to soothe the ache in Rin’s bones. He calmed a little, his muscles relaxing the longer they kissed, emitting slight noises of pleasure as Haru massaged his back.

And as they broke apart, he pushed Haru’s hair back and smiled.

“I don’t want to know yet,” Haru replied.

The shift of Rin’s expression was gradual; if Haru hadn’t been staring at him so intently, he would’ve missed it. The subtle darkening of his eyes, the slow downward curve of his mouth. Rin was trying so hard. Haru had to kiss him again.

“I’ll live here,” Haru said, looking up at the ceiling of the small house. “There’s a swim club here where I’ll work. And we can still see each other.”

Rin’s tailfins twitched slightly, like a puppy tentatively wagging its tail. Like it didn’t know whether to be excited or not.

“There’s still a lot for me on land,” Haru went on, as he stroked Rin’s tail. “I . . . I’ll learn scuba diving, too. So we can explore together.”

Rin arched an eyebrow. “Scuba?”

Haru hadn’t grown weary of teaching Rin about the human world. He loved using the simplified terms, and loved more when Rin’s eyes sparkled in understanding. And when Rin hugged him, it was the Rin he knew, and the Rin he loved. How he got so excited over it all, learning more and more about the land-dwellers.

“I can’t be your human boyfriend if I’m a merman,” Haru said, and Rin’s laugh hummed between their joined lips.

 

* * *

 

Haru was a natural diver. Rin laughed the first time he saw Haru’s diving apparatus, but was excited if it meant he could breathe underwater. Haru didn’t need his guidance anymore to venture into the inactive volcano, and he often surprised Rin by showing up first.

Sometimes Rin wasn’t there. Haru would talk with whomever showed up, whether it was Rin’s family or Sousuke. Once Haru had proved to Sousuke that he could swim nearly as fast as the merpeople, he knew he’d officially been accepted. And he liked when Gou was there, because she talked even more than Rin and it meant Haru didn’t have to say a lot—even if it meant Gou wanted to brush his hair and try putting braids in it. She always asked after Makoto, and didn’t understand that he was away at university. But he'd stay with Haru when he came home for breaks, and they’d go out in the boat to see her. Gou asked every time if he had a human girlfriend, and he’d smile and assure her that he didn’t. She found it terribly romantic, though only Haru understood that she believed he was waiting for her. He didn’t have the heart to tell Makoto why she was always excited to hear about his lack of news.

It was dangerous for the merpeople to swim to Haru’s house, as the surrounding community was mostly fisherman, but Haru learned how to steer the boat that would bring them to shore after dark. Rin’s grandfather visited the house sometimes and taught him to fish, too, and Haru could catch as much mackerel as he wanted.

And late at night, when Haru and Rin were in the volcano alone, they would make love. It became easier with time; Rin began to understand Haru’s body, and he did all that he could to make sure his human boyfriend was comfortable. Haru had dragged a small, waterproof box into the volcano during one of his diving expeditions where they could leave gifts for each other. The other merpeople were instructed not to touch it, though it wasn’t certain whether they listened. As a result Haru always kept their intimate possessions with him; explaining what the “rubber protectors” and the tiny bottle were for wasn’t something either of them wanted to do.

Rin’s grandfather surprised them by purchasing a hot tub for the house, which was installed in the living room. Rin could spend the night then, though it took a long time for him to understand _why_ Haru couldn’t sleep in the water, too. But Haru had set up a cot in the living room, right beside it, so they could still hold hands as they slept. And in the morning, Haru would climb into the water with him before he had to bring him home.

Rin won the North Pacific Reef races that year, followed close behind by Sousuke, and they expected to swap the title of victor between them for years to come. Rin had stopped joking about Haru winning the race one day, but Sousuke would smile when the unspoken phrase still passed between them. Many of Rin’s treasures ended up in Haru’s living room, including the silver and gold armbands of previous years. They looked nicer on Haru’s shelves than they did hidden away in Rin’s sleepcave.

Haru couldn’t dive to North Pacific Reef, even with his scuba gear, but he could get closer. He saw the merpeople swimming around it, and he was close enough to see Sousuke wave from his spot on patrol. Rin taught him everything about life at the reef (in case he ever lived there, not that Rin would say it), but he also loved to learn everything about Haru’s house.

“It’s your house, too,” Haru would remind him, and Rin would kiss him in gratitude.

And buried within the volcano was a bottle of ancient water, one that pulsed a brighter red whenever Haru was near. He knew it was there; Rin had shared the tale of his and Sousuke’s journey, though that was the only detail Haru knew of the legend. The old tradition stated that a human need only to drink of the water, and he would be one with the merpeople.

But magic has a price, Haru knew, and Rin kept the details to himself until the day he would ask. But he hadn’t asked—not yet. Haru swam beside his merman boyfriend, and prepared mackerel for them every day, and sometimes he would dive far beneath the water’s surface to catch a glimpse of the land that one day might be his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for following the tale of merRin and his human boyfriend. I wish you lots of love, adventures of your own, and all the mackerel you can eat.
> 
> (Chapter is [here](http://letsswimtogethernanase.tumblr.com/post/98239321168) on tumblr.)


End file.
